On the heels of the executive council blocking an extension of that rent-seeking Gordon-Darby contract, it was pointed out that NH receives $330M of federal highway money each year. Sure, that’s a lot of money, but I still say “so what.” This isn’t the first rodeo, so to speak, with NH and DC. One could do a deep dive into history, but for this article, I’ll just stick with memories from the past half-century.
Remember the speed limit being 55 in all 50 states back in the day? That’s compliments of the strings attached highway money.
Do people older than you brag about drinking at 18, and you wonder what happened since then? Blame highway money.
What about those perennial crusades for seatbelt laws? The same question could be asked about motorcycle helmets.
What about the push to renumber the exits on 93?
If you want to do your own deep dive on such questions, consider sharing your findings in the comments if you find anything interesting, but I ask why highway money is as much of a sacred cow as CMS money.
All those highway money issues have origins from life before COVID. Now consider all the vax bills post-COVID. Our legislature has been bullied for years, and I want readers to remember HB1210, which our senate killed, 19-5, by moving to interim study after hours of late-night debate on 5/5/22. One of the big points of contention was the risk of jeopardizing NH’s CMS funds, which were much more than $330M. The at-the-time Senate Finance chair, Gary Daniels, said “$2.3B,” that’s BILLION, in his dissent against his 19 peers that voted the wrong way. He used the word BLACKMAIL in the first sentence of his speech and finished up with the question “at what price will you sell your liberty?”
While I’m aware of the differences between policy decisions that are automotive and those that are bodily, looking through a philosophical lens, I’m also a numbers person. $2.3B is about 7 times $330M. To everyone who voted the wrong way on every car-inspection vote in every body of government, and especially Executive Councilor Janet Stevens, I ask Gary’s question. At what price should NH sell its liberty?
