As a sign that there are idiots on both sides of the
political aisle in Virginia, Virginia Sen. Dick Saslaw commented that he can’t
legislate for what might happen 100 years down the road in response to the
issue over whether or not Virginia’s moratorium on uranium mining should be
lifted.[1]
Saslaw stated, “What about 10,000 years from now? I’m not
going to be here. I can’t ban something because of something that might happen
500 or 1,000 years from now.”[2]
Under this form of logic, maybe Virginia’s legislators should also use
Virginia’s landfills as a storage area for America’s nuclear waste. After all,
why should we be concerned about consequences that won’t bear themselves out in
our lifetimes?
Americans and Virginians in particular have a right to be
idiots, but not when they’re legislating for thousands of constituents in the
present and ultimately, millions more in the future.
If Virginia’s legislators aren’t willing to look at the
long-term consequences of their actions as lawmakers, then the entire structure
of our government will crumble under the weight of its own callousness and
parochialism. That is, if lawmakers were to merely legislate exclusively for
the present, the not too distant future would quickly become a place where few
individuals would want to live.
We all value the short term more than the long term, on the
whole. After all, how do we know if we’ll still be living tomorrow or a year
from now? But if each generation does not respect and safeguard the well-being
of the next, individual citizens and politicians would quickly undermine
economic, moral, communal, and environmental integrity through short-term and
short-minded decisions.
Dick Saslaw obviously feels that today is all that matters
and tomorrow is but a dream for others to unfold. Virginians both now and in
the future will not soon forget the remarks made by Sen. Saslaw, the man who
knew too little and cared even less.
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