It's election time and once again there are some strange people with even stranger ideas running for office. For example, a candidate for Governor of Nevada, Eugene DiSimone, is pitching the idea of allowing drivers to pay to speed. He figures that people who use the highways of the state would be willing to pay $25 a day for the privilege of driving 90 miles per hour. DiSimone is advocating the scheme as a way to alleviate the state's budget woes. He expects that it could garner $1 billion. Candidate DiSimone believes that there are as many as 40 million drivers who would take the deal over the course of a year.
The Nevada police are against the plan. There are the obvious drawbacks-- that the scheme will lead to more accidents, some of which could be fatal. In addition, for the idea to work, police will have to enforce the speed limit aggressively against those drivers who would not kick in $25 a day. This would assure that the pay to speed is a privilege that only a select view can get. And, of course, there will be those who oppose the idea because lower income drivers won't be able to buy into the privilege.
DiSimone is on the ballot as an independent candidate because he was able to collect 250 signatures on a petition. Besides the pay to speed plan, the political neophyte is also advocating paying all state debts in gold or silver. This would assist the state in collecting $3.6 billion, because Nevada would buy the gold and silver from companies at a 20 percent discount. Then the state could mint its own coins. The state would give the land where the minerals are found to the mining company in exchange for the discount. The governor in waiting also wants to take control of the Nevada National Guard away from President Obama and use it to arrest illegal residents.
So, for those of you who want an autobahn in the U.S., you have a candidate for state office who could assist in getting it done.