The dumbest LTTE I've read all year is in today's Washington Post

[Penndems]

'North Virginia' Rising
Thursday, October 12, 2006; Page A26

In the wake of the Virginia legislature's inability to reach a compromise on transportation spending , it appears that the only way Northern Virginia can solve its transportation problems is to secede from the state.

For too long, the region has been treated as a cash cow and a puppet on a string by Richmond and delegates from places such as southwestern Virginia, which is more psychologically remote to most Northern Virginians than New York, Chicago and even California.

We need to break from the rest of the commonwealth and form our own state to gain control of our taxes, our laws and our destiny.

Long live the Commonwealth of North Virginia!

Link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/11/AR2006101101711.html
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The "cash cow" treatment I'll agree with. But secession? Give me a break! :mad: :eyes:

[williesgirl]

1. Do you live in VA - I do and I've long thought this way. We're tired of

paying for central/southern VA's bullshit. They won't even let us raise our OWN taxes, not theirs, for roads. Plus, they keep eroding women's choice a little bit each session, forcing their fundie ways on us.

[Penndems]

2. Yes ma'am, I do - in Prince William County

My family has been in Virginia since about 1719. I was born in Arlington fifty-one years ago, and grew up in Fairfax County. My mother and my aunt were born in Old Sterling, and spent the better part of their lives in FC. Dad was born in Fauquier County, and was raised in Nokesville. My maternal grandmother and grandfather (born in Loudoun and Fairfax Counties, respectively) owned an operated a general store at the intersections of Old Dominion Drive and Spring Hill Road in McLean from 1932 until 1963. I could go on and on, but why waste bandwidth, LOL?

While I don't necessary agree with many of the decisions that are reach concerning Northern Virginia, particularly regarding social issues and taxes, I understand somewhat the reasoning behind those conclusions. There's Northern Virginia, and there's the rest of the state. While the two areas don't see eye-to-eye on a plethora of subjects, NoVa is still a part of the Commonwealth, as it has been for almost four hundred years.

If the author of this letter has concerns about taxes and laws passed in Richmond (and who living in Northern Virginia doesn't?), perhaps the fault lies with some of our local State Delegates and State Senators for not exuding greater influence in the legislature.

[Laughing Mirror]

10. Arlington/Alexandria used to be the District of Columbia

and wasn't West Virginia once part of Virginia? Parts of North Carolina were too, weren't they?

The point is, what you know as Virginia today had not always been the Old Dominion. If Northern VA (even those parts to the south and west of Rippon Landing) wants to secede from the rest of the state, why shouldn't it?

[Penndems]

12. Arlington and Alexandria were returned to Virginia in 1847

North Carolina was founded by Virginians who migrated south to find additional farmland and to get away from rapid growth (sound familiar?). It became a state via Constitutional ratification in November 1789. West Virginia ceded from Virginia through the First Wheeling Convention of May 1861, when she refused to join Virginia in seceding from the Union.

Unless you're suggesting that Northern Virginia fight a second Civil War with the rest of the state (which would surely warm the cuckolds of every redneck and good ole boy heart from Manassas to Lubbock, Texas looking for a little payback), the concept of NoVa resigning itself from the rest of the Commonwealth just isn't a good idea.

[FSogol]

3. Secession has come up before. Fairfax County has also toyed

around with controlling their own roads in lieu of Commonwealth Control by VDOT.

[Penndems]

4. FSogol, I can tell you, by virtue of being a native Virginian, that there

is no way in four lifetimes that Richmond is going to let the "Yankee" region of the state secede from the rest of the Commonwealth. The legislature members from the rest of the state will fight tooth and nail on that one! Quite frankly, as a multi-generational denizen of Northern Virginia, the idea sounds rather foolish. I don't want my state carved up, thank you very much.

Those good ole boys' mindset is that if outsiders move into Virginia, work here and earn a six-figure salary, then they shouldn't complain about forking over a substantial amount of it to help out with infrastructure, educational and taxation issues pending in the rest of the state. They'll make sure that the Viet Nam Veterans' Bypass around Richmond gets constructed before any work on Routes 123 or 7 gets under way.

Bottom line: The state legislature has a love-hate relationship with Northern Virginia. They appreciate all that multi-million dollar revenue that comes in, but they don't appreciate the mindset and culture that comes with it.

BTW, while we were living in Pennsylvania, and I was working on Ed Rendell's campaign, the local Chairman of the county Republican Party opined to me that since we have half of his state living in Virginia, we should be giving Pennsylvania half of our tax revenues.

I suggested that if visionary leaders had been elected in PA thirty years ago, perhaps their residents wouldn't have left and come to my state.

[FSogol]

5. I know and agree. I just said (or meant) that the speculation wasn't

far fetched and had been discussed before. I'm a native Virginian also.

[Penndems]

6. You're absolutely right in your assessment that this is a reoccuring

issue.

The attitudes are defintely different, once one gets south of Rippon Landing. ;)

[FSogol]

7. Yup, my folks retired to the valley and I think they are the only

democrats in the entire voting district.

[Penndems]

8. I hear ya - the "Fightin' Ninth" has certainly been a GOP stronghold, but

the Dems are dug in, and are committed to turning the Valley blue! :)

My aunt moved to Winchester from Berryville last year. She says it really took some getting used to.

Before that, she lived in McLean for ten years. I remember she and Mama had planned to go out for breakfast one more - this was back in 1982. When my aunt was running late and my mother called her, she exclaimed "I can't even get out of my damn driveway, there's so much traffic on this road!"

[demnan]

9. I would be for it

I live in Prince William County. And I drive 95 to work. Traditions be damned, I'm tired of spending 3 hours a day on the road just to go 22 miles and back.

I think the entire Washington region should be its own state. Take parts of Maryland, DC and Virginia and you have enough to make a good tax base for building our roads, great urban areas and suburbs and rural as well and we don't have to Kowtow to Richmond and Annapolis to get things done.

Take DC, Montgomery, Prince Georges, Charles counties in Maryland and everything north of Fredericksburg and east of route 81 in Viriginia. Call it the District of Columbia.

[Penndems]

11. You might want to check with D.C. and Maryland on that consolidation

proposal, LOL. Three of my brothers and my father live in Maryland, and they seem to like that state being a separate entity from D.C.

I empathize completely with the commuting situation. In my case, I utilize the county commuter system. Problem is, when gas prices go up, the buses get overcrowded, and folks are standing in the aisles from the Pentagon to Lake Ridge. PRTC has another seventeen buses on order, so hopefully that'll alleviate the situation.

Demnan, you comment concerning the brutal commute reminded me of something that occurred at the county Democratic committee dinner last year. We invited my mother, who had never been to one before. The guest speaker was then-Lieutenant Governor Tim Kaine.

After dessert was served, Tim was discussing the transportation quandary with us. He brought up several options for dealing with our clogged transportation arteries. When presenting his solutions for Route 1, Mother piped up and exclaimed, "Route One was a mess fifty years ago!!

'Nuff said. ;)