Stephen Jones: Their General Welfare and Ours

This is a post by contributing writer, Stephen Jones, who is a progressive political activist and a resident of Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Yesterday, some of us picked up our morning newspaper and learned that Steve Landerne, Executive Director of SpacePort America, was requesting from us, the tax-paying public of the State of New Mexico, the sum of $7.5 Million Dollars for the purposes of paving a road that would create a “faster” route into Las Cruces. He announced his intention to begin lobbying the next session of the New Mexico State Legislature in January for this “critical need,” as he termed it. Apparently Interstate 25 is not “fast” enough for our “friends” at the SpacePort Authority.

This boondoggle, now being assembled in Sierra County, midway between Las Cruces and Socorro, began as a Congressional earmark of Federal tax dollars of that born-again fiscal conservative, Senator Pete Domenici. It was further funded by the Governments of the State New Mexico, Dona Ana, and Sierra Counties.

All of these public monies have been spent to benefit the venture startup of Virgin Gallactic and its billionaire owner, one Richard Branson, excuse me, Sir Richard Charles Nicolas Branson, a British subject and resident of London, England.

Were Sir Richard to make such a request for public monies from the British Parliament, even under a Tory regime, he would, doubtlessly, be laughed out of Westminster before he finished his first bow to the Crown. Here, in the United States, however, we eagerly shower our would-be billionaire space travelers and playboys with all the tax money we can shovel their way, so long as the empty promise of “high tech jobs” is attached as a rider, just for laughs.

SpacePort America is one of thousands, or rather tens of thousands, of projects across the United States where public tax dollars are being funneled off to support private business enterprises; a professional football stadium or baseball park here, a parcel of land for a big-box superstore there; a private right-of-way set aside to promote trade and commerce.

When the framers of the United States Constitution wrote, “We the People, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare,” they probably meant to promote the general welfare of we, the people, and not the welfare of Sir Richard Charles Nicolas Branson and other private business owners.

New Mexico is facing a fiscal crisis. Education has been sliced to the bone, or rather into the bone. Politicians feeding at the trough in Washington tell us we “simply can’t afford” a public option in our health reform legislation.

Enough is enough! We need to take a stand here. We need to demand of our “citizen legislators” responsible action in the case of the SpacePort.

No more public monies!

If Sir Richard needs a “faster” road into Las Cruces, may I suggest he fund it himself. Forbes estimates Branson’s net worth at $3.8 Billion in US Dollars. For someone with $3.8 Billion to toss around, $7.5 Million is, dare I say it, chump change.

We need not be chumps about this. If Sir Richard needs a “faster” road, let him buy the right of way and build it himself; let him write his own check for the cost, or should I use the British spelling, Cheque?

To read more posts by contributing writer Stephen Jones, visit our archive.