Congressman Jim Moran
A major issue for Alexandrians for the past few years has been the proposed implementation of the Base Realignment And Closure Act, or BRAC for short. According to one of the several provisions of BRAC, approximately 6,400 military personnel from the Washington Headquarters Service will be moved to the already traffic-laden crowded Mark Center community of Alexandria come September.
Even now, with numerous studies confirming that the move will greatly harm Mark Center and with traffic calming construction projects not expected to be completed for a couple years, the move apparently remains on schedule, with the Defense Department recently releasing an occupancy plan that will begin in August and be completed by New Year’s Day 2012.
Needless to say, the outcry against the move has been extensive. Petitions have gone around the Mark Center community demanding either a delay or even a cancellation in the move. Alexandria City Council has passed a couple measures meant to help Mark Center residents cope with the additional cars, including a parking ordinance that will restrict parking in parts of the West End to Alexandrian residents.
Virginia Congressmen, especially those with strong ties to Northern Virginia, have also taken the side of their constituents in the struggle to delay the move until various traffic calming measures are implemented. Congressman Jim Moran, long serving liberal Democrat of the Eighth Congressional District of Virginia, which includes Alexandria, has been active in delaying the BRAC move until better commuter conditions exist. It was Congressman Moran who proposed a measure that would limit the Mark Center facility to 1,000 spaces and who has researched extending public transportation routes to include the facility so as to reduce the number of cars on the road.
Though never a fan of my elected official, I have to give credit to Congressman Moran for being very vocal about this issue and actually doing things about it. Some of his work has succeeded, as a Moran-sponsored bill to delay the Mark Center move for at least one year passed the House and is pending in the Senate. Amidst these actions, I have also noted an interesting psychological component to all that is happening.
Congressman Moran is a renowned big government politician. During his most recent overwhelmingly successful reelection campaign, Moran bragged about being a fan of government. While on the campaign trail, Moran advocated for the expansion of government during the present recession:
“Since World War II it’s the federal government that has played a critical role in expanding our middle class…it was the federal government that was able to bring about civil rights legislation,” said Moran.
“There are folks who believe in ‘survival of the fittest’, but there’s also folks that believe that everyone counts. And believe that that‘s really what the Bill of Rights was all about,” said the Congressman at an Arlington Democrats meeting, describing proponents of limited government.
On the campaign trail and in the pillared halls of power Moran has sung the praises of big government. Yet it must be stressed that the BRAC situation is ultimately a situation in which it is big government that is trampling the well being of a community. Moran has been constantly opposed to the BRAC move, a move that comes because of big government flexing its muscle. Despite this, what are the odds that Moran will blame big government for this problem?
Some call it hegemony. Its when a worldview is so dominant in a society that evidence to the contrary seldom receives consideration. Moran is such a great proponent of expansive government that even when something bad happens because of big government, he cannot and/or will not conclude that maybe, just maybe, big government is a hindrance after all. Most of his constituents follow the same worldview.
Northern Virginia is a land populated by government contractors, military personnel, federal office employees, lobbyists, special interest group members, Congressional liaisons, and other public workers. Small wonder Republicans never win and the Tea Party is weak; to advocate for the reduction in government in Northern Virginia is to advocate for the severing of our life blood. Furthermore, with so many government employees around and so many homes supported by government paychecks, who would dare think that government bureaucracy is a bad thing?
Even when cases like BRAC when big government is directly harming us, the bureaucratic hegemony of Northern Virginia abounds and prevails. And if you do not believe that this hegemony is pervasive in both government and popular opinion, let’s see who wins the next time Moran is up for reelection.
