I recommend the following collection of options that should all be used together to get Texas back on track with paying for roadways:

 Ways to pay for roads

•  — Increase the frozen gas tax from 20 cents to 30 cents
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• —  Charge a 2 cent road tax on all service invoices
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•  — Use part of the tax on tobacco, cigarettes, cigars and alcohol strictly for roads and/or charge 1 cent more as a road tax on those items
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•  — Increase sales tax half a cent to go towards road building and maintenance
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• —  Use a minimum of $500 million of the Rainy Day Fund for roadways
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•  — Charge 1 cent for every dollar spent on a lottery ticket for roads
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•  — Charge a $1 monthly road payment fee on every new car loan
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•  — Charge a $1 road fee per day on a hotel or motel room
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•  — Restructure TxDOT to cut waste of Texas tax dollars
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•  — Eliminate the CTRMA to save tax dollars, since toll roads are not needed
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•  — Start paying off road debt of bonds and loan packages
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•  — Stop tolls and road bond packages completely; these are private roads for the elite and NOT for all Texans.

Using all of the above will provide adequate tax revenue to build and maintain our roadways WITHOUT building toll roads and/or road bond packages.

Rick Perry is demanding a third Special Session. Each of these cost taxpayers a minimum of $2 million. It’s amazing that we can’t find money to finance public education, reduce property taxes, or to build roadways, but Perry sure has enough money to piss it away on his not-so Special Sessions.

And it’s not the first time Perry has wasted our tax dollars on not-so Special Sessions. Maybe eight years ago he called for three Special Sessions to try to get a controversial redistricting map approved. It never happened and finally the courts determined a map that has been batted around in the legislature and the courts to this day.

In fact, Perry has wasted more of our tax dollars on not-so Special Sessions than any previous Texas Governor. We need to point that out to the American people when Perry begins his Presidential run, among all his other idiosyncrasies that could further destroy our nation.

A major issue that many people in Texas don’t seem to understand is that those in charge of the GOP here are NOT the majority of the party. They are extremists, not the core of the Party.

While I have been a Republican since the Eisenhower administration, back in the 1950s, I am not in synch with the current GOP in Texas. The Tea Party appears to be in charge here, at least for a short time, but I believe the majority of Republicans are not on the same platform.

Consequently, there is a schism in the GOP of its members and that is a big reason why the Party can’t pass bills, bonds, what have you, easily.

I believe that very soon there will be a coup within the Texas GOP. It has to happen because the GOP as it is today is useless. Most of what it tries to do is unconstitutional, so because of this, the Party then tries to add amendments to change the laws to permit its absurd direction.

At best, the Texas GOP is ineffective. At worst, it is a corrupt and cancerous tumor.

 I have written many times about toll roads and why we should not build and use them.

As they do with public education tax dollars, Gov. Perry and legislators divert tax dollars slated for roadways to other interests. We need to use road tax revenues for roadways before we ever contemplate other options including toll roads and bond issues.

We need more transparency re: TxDOT, RMA’s and private road conglomerates and the contracts developed. Most of us don’t see where our tax dollars go.

The fuel/gas taxes have not increased for decades re: cost of living and inflation rates. They have been frozen by Gov. Perry and legislators and they refuse to permit an increase in those taxes citing the GOP does not want to levy new or increased taxation. However, they have no problem diverting state responsibility for education and road costs onto local governments, who in turn increase property taxes or tax rates and/or approve bond programs that increase property taxes. Meanwhile, the state uses education and road tax revenue for other interests. This should be illegal.

Regarding toll roads, private road conglomerates immediately take 80 percent off the top of toll revenues for their revenue and the cost of their expenses. The company usually has a contract with the state for any time period of 50 to 70 years. Generally, tolls will be forever as the state sees tolls as additional EASY revenue.

Toll roads usually initiate long term debt for Texas taxpayers, especially when bond packages are included and/or if TxDOT or the CTRMA takes out a long term loan to include in the initial toll road costs.

Toll roads often are put on already paid for with our taxes roadways, e.g., the proposed toll lanes for MoPac. There should be no toll roads permitted on already existing tax paid roads. The state gets past this legally by saying the proposed toll lanes will be adjacent to the existing roadways, but we know that it is an end around ploy to build them.

Toll roads create other issues, including, more noise and air pollution, devaluing adjacent residential neighborhoods and homes, etc.

Tolls are not considered new taxes, but they really are when you consider that businesses using the toll roads will pass along the toll costs onto their wholesale and retail consumers. We all will pay toll taxes even if we do not use the toll roads ourselves.

Toll roads are built for those wealthy enough to afford to use them. It is a classist ploy to increase revenues by building private roadways for the wealthier. The poorer population can not use them.

RMA’s or private conglomerates will manipulate the actual costs of the tolls at ANY time and will not need prior-approval for doing so. The costs will change during peak hours and/or increases in the tolls may occur for any and for no reason at all.

Regulation of toll roads force people to use them without often knowing they are going onto a toll road. If they don’t have a toll pass their license plate will be photographed and they will be charged via mail for the toll cost, a service fee and possibly a penalty. This is a manipulation and invasion of our privacy and civil rights.

I am against government regulation into our daily lives. Toll roads are a flagrant violation of our rights and privacy. Despite what the state and private companies tell us, tolls are new taxes and force further regulations and other costs and issues onto residents and/or taxpayers. I am totally against toll roads unless they are the last resort. Here in Texas tolls are now the first resort.

Peter Stern,  Driftwood Texas

To President Obama and Members of Congress:

Please do NOT cut Social Security.  Increase the Social Security Tax and stop diverting those taxes to other interests.

We are told constantly SS benefits are “entitlement” but the real entitlement is that people are entitled to collect Social Security Benefits because they put money into the program their whole working lives and are entitled to collect their benefits when they become elderly and/or disabled.

The President and Congress act as if we are taking THEIR money.  We paid for it in taxes and earned the right to collect Social Security Benefits.

Peter Stern,  Driftwood Texas

It fascinates me that legislators continue to believe and tell the public that they “aim to ensure quality” of public education.  They simply do NOT know how to do that and they do NOT have the training to do that.  Neither do business people who constantly direct legislators on how to provide quality to public education and who in turn are asked to join committees on public education.  Neither can The State Board of Education, which is too political and special interest driven to do it.

Only parents, students, school administrators and teachers have the knowledge and/or training to get public education back on track.

The SBOE should be dismantled.  School-Based Management should replaced the SBOE at each district because management should be at the local level.

Get rid of the nonsense State tests that prove nothing about what a child has learned.  Educational progress should be determined by the schools via a child’s entire record by each teacher who observes each child and administers tests in the classroom.  Teach learning for learning’s sake and not for some obscure and unsubstantiated test.  Help children better learn the basics: reading, writing and mathematics.

Treat teachers as professionals, give them a reasonable salary and ensure they get the proper training.  Provide mentors, a.k.a., established teachers, for every new teacher hired into the system.  Parents should be involved in their children’s learning.  Establish business collaboratives so children may be mentored by members of the business community.

All of these things will provide a better quality of education.

Peter Stern of Driftwood, Texas is a former Director of Information Services in private industry and government, a University Professor, Public School Administrator and Teacher, is a disabled Vietnam Veteran and holds three post-graduate degrees.

The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority has a 2012-13 budget of $43.2 million taken from Texas taxpayers and toll tax revenue. The agency was proposed and pushed through 10 years ago by former Rep. Mike Krusee, whom Texans did not reelect because of his questionable special interest motivated actions.

The toll agency, which currently manages two toll roads, should be dismantled. The toll roads that it plans to build and manage on MoPac Expressway are a sham and are not needed. CTRMA borrowed $130 million to add to the toll road building. The proposed toll roads will not ease traffic conditions; they are simply a source of new revenue. Furthermore, Texas does not need ongoing toll roads.

Texans need an intelligent, well-managed, and reality-based Texas Department of Transportation that works in the best interests of the entire community. There is no reason in the world that CTRMA agency head Mike Heiligenstein should be making $250,000 annually for running an agency that plans toll roads in Central Texas, except that he is appointed by Gov. Rick Perry.

Perry and Texas Legislators refuse to let the gasoline tax catch up with inflation and also continue to divert gasoline tax revenue to their other interests, which is part of the reason TxDOT hasn’t sufficient money to build and maintain our roadways.

Lastly, toll roads are an inefficient and poor cost effective method of building and maintaining roads.  In addition, the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority may raise toll costs at will without approval and has little oversight to ensure it is working in the best interests of the community at-large.  The agency is another governmental intrusion into our daily lives, is unnecessary, and should be dismantled.

Peter Stern, Driftwood, Texas

The move is under way to rip apart our scenic Hill Country in order to provide large profits for developers and road companies from which they may toss some back to elected officials via perks and campaign contributions.

The new road proposals essentially carve up much of our open lands and break up our private properties to new and unsustainable growth patterns.  The corrupt process of appointing designated associates by County Commissioners comprising persons with already-voiced interests in either building roads or being involved in development, who then sit down and decide for the rest of the citizens (and LANDOWNERS) of this County what should happen to their lives is undemocratic, blatantly contemptible and should not be tolerated.

 Most people know little or nothing about these new proposed roads, and there has been NO PUBLIC INTEREST in building more roads.  Instead, it is a top-down bogus process of handing over public tax money to private entities in the form of road contracts and eventual housing and commercial development.

Our lands and our lifestyle must not for sale, nor open to controlled special interest decisions about where increased vehicular traffic, overpopulation and additional air and noise pollution should be directed and how.

Local news media along with community residents must rise up together as a giant tsunami of protest.  We recognize that the county is growing and that we must make improvements to our roads, but not this way.

Peter Stern, Driftwood, Texas

“Liberal” and “Conservative” are two words used to describe two political philosophies and platforms that may not be so easy to view and comprehend.  It seems that humans maintain a need and desire to label everything and everyone in their lives and certainly this is recognized in Politics, perhaps more so than in other areas of our daily existence.

Immediately, several such labels come to mind, e.g., liberal, conservative, socialist, fascist, to name a few.  The terms “Liberal” and “Conservative” are frequently used in politics and within our modern society; however, the context may vary in actual use and definition at any given time.  Furthermore, the terms have changed over time periods and/or have been manipulated to promote special interest concerns, desires and legislation.

There is no specific date attributed to the founding of either the liberal and conservative concepts, yet one could consider that even among primitive humans there must have been some organic, free-thinking cavemen and women who may have been the actual “inventors” of liberal thought and process in its more infantile phase of evolution.  Naturally, there would have been a counter primitive conservative influence that wanted to keep life and the things within it as they had been before.

Wikipedia defines Liberalism as:

Liberalism (from the Latin liberalis, “of freedom” [1]) is the belief in the importance of [3]

It defines Conservatism as:

Conservatism (Latin: conservare, “to preserve”) is a political and social philosophy that holds that traditional institutions work best and that society should avoid radical change.

It is safe to consider that throughout human history there were individuals and groups who wanted to institute changes in daily living, while others preferred and desired to keep things as they were and had been.  Such thinking evolved into modern times as evidenced by such quaint quotes as, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

In essence, the origins and definitions of “Liberal” and “Conservative” are not as easily determined as one would think.

In some history texts John Locke is given credit as “the father of liberalism” whereby he believed that Liberalism “employed the concept of property.”

With sound reason, many believe that Liberalism emerged from historical and social developments that led up to the American and French Revolutions.  History shows that the people were liberated from kingly control over their lives.  Over time, freedom and maintaining a constitution was associated with the term “Liberal”.

In concept, true Conservatism prefers to keep things as they were, more middle-grounded, The origins of the term underscores in reaction to change.  In the wake of the Anglican theologian Richard Hooker called for moderation and a balance of interests for the sake of social harmony and common good.

In modern times, it is not often easy to be a Liberal or a Conservative or to recognize one.  In addition, the definition of each continues to change.  For example, if we compare the Conservative Dwight D. Eisenhower administration of the 1950’s with the Conservative George W. Bush administration that began in 2000, we may not be able to find level comparisons of these Republican terms.

In other words, President Eisenhower and President Bush may not have agreed on many issues, philosophies and actions; however, each person and his respective administration were deemed Conservative and Republican politically and in concept.  In fact, the two administrations were very different.

It appears that our lives and our politics have become extreme.  A person today is either Liberal or Conservative, left or right of center as in the past, but more so.  These days a Conservative may be nearing Fascist, while a Liberal may seem Radical or Socialist.  In truth, Liberal and Conservative traditions are currently extremist philosophies, and yet they may often overlap each other because of their extremist views on various issues – as in Liberal is so far left that it is coming around to the right; while Conservative is so far right that it is coming around to the left.

In a crazy and hectic modern world, it is fitting to have a more unbalanced and often chaotic political system with unstable philosophies and platforms.  Moderates or middle-grounded philosophies and platforms are rare, but in my opinion, are urgently needed.

“Liberal” may no longer be used to describe a person who wants positive change or freedom.  For example, today’s Liberals and Conservatives are looking for socialistic bail-outs.  At the same time, they both want and don’t want government interference into our daily lives, but they want everything on their terms, which seems to change from moment to moment.   Conservatives say they don’t want new taxes but they desire toll roadways, which are a form of new taxes.  Liberals want to change to a more socialized health care system, but they still accept wealthy campaign contributions from the privatized health care providers, which seems to impede growth and striving for the community good.  Conservatives like those in the Tea Party say they prefer middle ground; however, many seem to push for more religion in public education and are anti-abortionists.  Both Liberals and Conservatives seem to push towards war to resolve issues, to gain profits for businesses and to uplift the economy.  In short, both parties are extremists.

In this topsy-turvy world, even our political system is in constant chaos and prone to extremism at opposite ends of the political spectrum.  It all can get very confusing.  Who really is Liberal and who is Conservative?

So, welcome to the 21st Century and make up your own mind, but do so intelligently in recognition that to walk a road with some degree of success, it is better to be centered on it.  If you walk too far over towards the left or the right, there is the greater potential of falling off — and where would that leave us?  Well, It leads us where we seem to be today.

Peter Stern, a former director of information services, university professor and public school administrator, is a disabled Vietnam veteran who lives in Texas.

In response to “U.S. 290 tollway’s first piece opening in December”

Despite the fact that gasoline tax revenue is diverted to other special interests and also that Gov. Perry and the Texas Legislature refuse to permit the increase of the tax to allow for inflation (as they apparently do permit for yearly toll road increases) the primary focus on building roadways is on developing more and more toll roadways, which truly does NOT help with traffic congestion.

This is unconscionable.

Furthermore, there is no regulation for the increase of tolls at any given time and once the toll road is paid for, the tolls usually remain. This is NOT a legacy we want to leave for our children’s children.

The ruling GOP cries out against new taxes, but what are tolls if not new taxes?

Even if drivers opt NOT to use the toll roads goods and services will increase accordingly as toll costs will be diverted onto customers. Consequently,

I urge all Texans to avoid using toll roads, but also they should contact legislators to stop tolling insanity.

Peter Stern
Driftwood, Texas