The stimulus hits home

What’s the difference between this year’s economic stimulus and all the government money the Dan River Region and its people have received over the years?

Government money is still our money, and if the federal government borrows to pay for today’s spending, does it really matter who brought that bacon down from Washington?

Of course not.

Former Rep. Virgil Goode put earmarks totaling $2.4 million for the Dan River Region in last year’s budget bill. The money will help SIPs of America in Blairs, a project for local junior high school students, the Institute for Advanced Learning & Research, Danville’s Municipal Building, bus system and the Riverwalk Trail and Danville Community College.

This year, Rep. Tom Perriello has been announcing federal dollars from the stimulus bill. Local governments, schools and law enforcement agencies are all receiving money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Danville officials hope to get millions more to get the “shovel ready” Robertson Bridge project started in the next year.

Even Averett University has applied for $4 million. “We found out through the Council of Independent Colleges that private colleges were being encouraged to apply for stimulus money, so we did,” Averett President Tiffany Franks said last week.

For all the sameness between last year’s government money and this year’s government money, many local residents still oppose the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Some believe it won’t work. Others think it will either hurt the economy or delay the inevitable recovery. Others don’t want it to work because the success of this kind of borrow-and-spend stimulus could strengthen the Democrats — especially if the recession starts to ease over the next few months.

That said, we certainly want the economy to recover, not out of any hope for one political party over the other, but because the Dan River Region is hurting today. The community was able to attract new businesses and industries before the recession; we’d like to see those new companies grow and develop here.

But if there’s a dime’s worth of difference between last year’s government spending and this year’s government spending, we haven’t heard it. Government spending is still government spending, no matter who’s spending our tax dollars.

This community has a long history of lining up for federal money. No one should be surprised — much less angered — by the arrival money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. It’s just more of the same.