Friday, January 18, 2008

Failures

There are interesting arguments pro and con term limits. I have thought that they are a necessary evil in a world of gerrymandered electoral districts. Of course, the FDR Presidency brought on the 22nd amendment and perhaps the Nixon-Reagan-Clinton-Bush experiences will persuade many that one term is enough. If the electorate does not have the good sense to recognize this then perhaps it should be a Constitutional limit.

Having said all that, it is saying the obvious that the G.W. Bush legacy will get its share of reflection and its ups and downs. Just like all the other ones.

This morning's WSJ op-ed ("Gas Taxes Are High Enough") by Mary E. Peters, Secretary of Transportation, suggests that this appointment belongs on the plus side of the ledger. She is the highest-ranking federal transportation official to openly embrace electronic road tolls on major highways. Highway congestion is often cited as a market failure in the texbooks. But not pricing when the means to do so at low cost are finally here is clearly a policy failure.