The art of the possible

Ernie Dumas takes a look at how the consensus on the severance tax came to be and contrasts Governor Beebe's methods of building the consensus versus Faubus's.

Mike Beebe's ultimate virtue is pragmatism. He calculated what could actually be done in the name of highways. The public welfare will finally extract a small price for the exploitation of the state's limited bounty. Purists also can rationalize it this way: The highway lobby was gearing up to siphon sales taxes on vehicle-related services and goods. If the new severance tax were not diverted to highways, the legislature almost surely would reach into the school and general funds for highways in another year or two. It's better this way.