4 The Hampton Roads Messenger Editorial


Combating Federal, State and Local Budget Woes


Affordable Care Act, also known as ObamaCare. Donated funds could also be used to support other government programs which “Promote the general welfare” of the country like Social Security and Medicare, as called for in the Preamble to the United States Constitution. Our immediate concern should be paying off the federal deficit, which is expected to reach $1.7 trillion and is growing exponentially on a daily basis.


State and local governments BY ANGELA JONES There has been great debate


throughout the nation recently, regarding how to lower the federal budget deficit. Ending tax cuts for the wealthy, cutting programs such as Medicare or raising corporate taxes are some of the ideas that are being bandied about as possible solutions. I believe we should take the approach of the physician’s oath and “Do no harm” to an economy that is already as fragile as a patient in intensive care on life support.


The first part of my three tiered


approach for reducing the budget deficit requires less of an intervention on the part of government as it does on the private sector. When there was discussion of ending tax cuts for the wealthy, there were some millionaires and billionaires who expressed an interest in paying more to the government in income taxes than what is currently required. Why not require a certain amount of taxes to be paid and also allow a voluntary amount, above the required amount, to be “donated” to the government? The option of donating to the government surprisingly already exists but is not aggressively publicized.


Earlier this year, billionaire


Warren Buffett challenged Republican members of Congress to donate to a fund to lower the deficit by agreeing to match their donations. Virginia Republican Congressman Scott Rigell was the first to take Buffett up on his offer. He had actually given $23,000 to reduce the deficit in 2011, prior to Buffett’s challenge. Rigell wrote a letter to Buffett asking if he would match the $23,000 he gave in 2011, as well as the $26,000 he intended to give in 2012; Buffett agreed.


Once the option to donate to the


government is widely advertised, the funds could be used to augment the cost of funding government entitlement programs such as Medicaid, WIC and now the Patient Protection and


should also have these altruistic accounts established to which any individual, corporation or foundation could donate. There are numerous philanthropic organizations, individuals and corporations who would be eager to support such a plan. Locally, wealthy individuals and corporations have a vested interest in helping to improve their communities. The state and local funds could be used for the same types of programs that the federal government’s “donated funds” would be used, including health care and education; this would ease the burden on already cash strapped state and local governments. If local governments currently have donation programs, they should be highly publicized.


Secondly, providing more funds to


government agencies, who sometimes mismanage them, would be a bad approach to reducing the deficit without reform. Remember what took place in the recent Government Services Agency (GSA) scandal? Federal, state and local governments need to be reorganized to operate more efficiently. Independent outside organizations should audit all government agencies and practices to determine which agencies are still relevant and essential by today’s standards. If government employees or legislators are used to make the determination of which agencies should stay and which ones should go, the process would be a “Fox guarding the hen house” scenario. No real strides would be made to reduce government waste or duplication of efforts, if that were the case.


There are companies that specialize


in streamlining organizations by providing to a blueprint to help them operate more efficiently using such methods as Lean Six Sigma. Lean Six Sigma is a combination two business strategies, Lean and Six Sigma. Lean is a “production practice that considers the expenditure of resources for any goal other than the creation of value for the end customer (the taxpayer) to be wasteful, and thus a target for elimination.” Six Sigma is a quality improvement business management strategy originally developed by Motorola in 1986, adopted by General Electric in 1995 and is widely used by many organizations today.


My third suggestion


Established 2006 Angela Jones, Publisher Chris Parks, Editor


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for reducing budget deficits involves supporting small business growth. There has been a lot of talk and even some action that is intended to stimulate small business growth but stronger actions need to be taken. Regulations that restrict small businesses’ ability to hire and remain viable need to be eliminated or relaxed until unemployment


Volume 6 Number 11


is reduced. Everyone is aware that U.S. corporations are outsourcing jobs to other countries but few are aware that small businesses have had to resort to outsourcing, as well, to survive in today’s tough economic climate. Accounting, sales and administration are some of the areas for which small business owners have looked outside of the United States for help due to the huge costs associated with hiring employees within the US.


Localities that depend on contracts


with the Department of Defense (DoD) or other government agencies, as a source of revenue, have not had a need to provide a more nurturing environment for small business development. While these cities continue to offer tax incentives and spend money and resources to attract larger corporations, the contributions that small businesses have made in other localities are undervalued or overlooked.


With recent base closing and


consolidations, we should have learned by now that cities that have traditionally


July 2012


depended on DoD contracts are going to need a plan B. Fostering a favorable climate for small businesses is a sensible plan for any locality. This plan will provide more jobs and increase the tax base, while requiring minimal effort and minimal resources on the part of local government. No expensive trips to China or India would be necessary.


By developing a plan to advertise


accounts to which any company, foundation or individual could voluntarily contribute to support government entitlement programs and pay down the nation’s debt, streamlining government and supporting small business growth, we would eventually reduce the nations deficit. The same roadmap could be used on the state and local level to improve their economic outlook. With these practices in place, not only would deficits be reduced but eventually we could move from a practice of doing no harm to a practice of reducing the tax burden for all.


Anniversary of Civil Rights Law Sees a BY MARISA TRESVIÑO


Renewed Attack on the Rights of Minorities Florida’s purge list has shown


The Civil Rights Act celebrates its


48th anniversary this month. It was on July 2, 1964 when President Lyndon Johnson signed it into law.


The Civil Rights Act outlawed


major forms of discrimination against African Americans and women, including racial segregation. It ended unequal application of voter registration requirements and racial segregation in schools, at the workplace and by facilities that served the general public (“public accommodations”).


However, a law that was supposed


to bring equality to the citizens of the country has been attacked and even deemed unnecessary by critics. Some equate the law to Affirmative Action, asserting it’s a bill that has outlived its usefulness. Yet, a casual glance at headlines today shows if ever there was a need for the Civil Rights Act, it is today. Civil rights are still being attacked, compromised and disrespected — by conservative lawmakers, social extremists and those who want to turn the clock back on race relations, gender equality and social acceptance.


To illustrate the attack on Civil


Rights today, here are a few examples: Voter ID Laws: The Brennan Center


for Justice monitors state legislation that impacts voting rights. What they’re finding is a disturbing trend among state to pass restrictive voter ID laws.


State governments across the


country enacted an array of new laws that could make it significantly harder for as many as 5 million eligible Americans to vote. Some states require voters to show government-issued photo identification, often of a type that as many as one in ten voters do not have. Other states have cut back on early voting, a hugely popular innovation used by millions of Americans. Still others made it much more difficult for citizens to register to vote, a prerequisite for voting.


These new restrictions fall most


heavily on young, minority, elderly, and low-income voters, as well as on voters with disabilities. This wave of changes may sharply tilt the political terrain for the 2012 election and beyond.


Voter Purge: Currently, Florida


is doing a state-wide voter purge that is alarming everyone from the League of Women Voters to the Justice Department.


to be rife with errors, and many local election officials warned from the start it was inaccurate. This flawed list was used to send purge notices to hundreds of eligible citizens, dispro- portionately Hispanic and members of other minority groups. Among them was Bill Internicola, a Brooklyn-born 91-year-old WWII veteran, who said he was “flabbergasted” when he received such a letter. The Department of Justice sued Florida, asking the state to stop the purge because it violates federal law.


Title IX: Title IX is a section of


the Education Amendments of 1972. It states: “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance…”


As forthright as the law is, it also is


not being followed as Education Week noted:


The U.S. Department of Education’s


office for civil rights announced a settlement this afternoon with four districts regarding Title IX complaints about unequal athletic opportunities for female students…the civil rights office found girls to be underrepre- sented athletically, based on each of the districts’ total enrollment figures.


SB1070: Though the Supreme


Court disagreed with most of Arizona’s anti-immigrant legislation, it kept in place a provision that threatens to trample the rights of Latino citizens unlucky to live in Arizona.


Many immigration activists


throughout the country view the Court’s decision as a threat to the civil liberties of immigrants and non-immigrants alike. They fear how the decision makes “Juan Crow” the law of the land.


At a time in our history that most


would like to think the general populace is enlightened enough to be color-blind and gender-blind, the sad reality is that it’s far from the truth. At least, the Civil Rights Law ensures people act within its framework, or risk a lawsuit, until the day everyone can do it on their own and there is never a question of treating someone else differently simply because of who they are.


Unfortunately, that day has not


yet arrived and it doesn’t look like it’s coming anytime soon.


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