Rage Over Driver Fees Has Va. Legislators Asking, 'Huh?'

But it was not the mere existence of blogs that created the uproar. As Anderson notes, abuser fees offend our sense of fair play. We despise selfish creeps who get tanked up and kill our children on the highways. But we feel for the struggling parent who gets pulled over for going 76 in a 55 mph zone on I-95 because she was late to pick up her kid at day care.

Yes, a new technology is changing the tempo of politics, which, like life generally, keeps accelerating to levels our grandparents could not imagine. But no, there is nothing new under the sun. Even if bloggers saw this issue as the perfect populist grievance, even if the voters who signed petitions and pledged to throw the bums out did act on misinformation, the bottom line is an old-fashioned one:

People want the folks who represent them to lay it on the line. They crave honesty and rebel against sneakiness and duplicity.

Abuser fees, even if they serve a good social purpose, were not imposed to make roads safer. They were designed to raise money because the politicians could not bring themselves to pass a genuine, aboveboard tax increase.

The abuser fees managed to unite left and right, Democrats and Republicans in common outrage.

"This feels sneaky, it feels underhanded, it's too 'professional politician,' " says Alexandria-based Republican consultant Craig Shirley. "People would have preferred a straight-up debate on taxes. The Internet is making people more and more comfortable with pushing back against their government, but this response is classic Virginia. It's been part of our culture for hundreds of years to not let government step on us."

"Call it what it is: a tax increase," says Democratic consultant Mudcat Saunders, who is based in Roanoke and is working for presidential candidate John Edwards. "This is all about lack of trust in government. Now the politicians react by telling the voters they're ignorant. No! You don't ever tell voters they don't understand."

Even if the common reading of the abuser fees is based on inaccuracies, the fees feel unfair, and unfair loses every time. A bunch of legislators may have to learn that the hard way.

E-mail:marcfisher@washpost.com