One area, however, is emphatically not out of bounds.

One area, however, is emphatically not out of bounds. That area is federal aid to the states, and it is one which almost certainly will be an inviting target when the time comes to wield the economy axe.

How much do the states, including conservative Virginia, rely on federal aid?

They rely on it to a degree which most of our citizens would regard as shocking. Of Virginia’s nearly $16 billion appropriated for the present biennium, more than 30 percent—a whopping $5 billion—comes from the federal government!

It is an astonishing figure, and any substantial reduction in this federal allocation could knock the Commonwealth’s delicately balanced budget, as well as Gov. Chuck Robb’s cherished hope of avoiding tax increases, into a cocked hat.

The melancholy fact is that any significant efforts to reduce the federal deficit would mean loading additional financial burdens on the states, where services would either have to be slashed or taxes raised in order to cover the passed-down costs.

It’s the kind of thing our fiscal conservatives don’t like to hear, but Virginia owes at least a part of its cash-on-the-barrelhead fiscal “soundness” to the ballooning national debt and Uncle Sam’s red ink spending.

The president’s efforts to deflate that balloon will no doubt make his administration look good and, to be sure, it may be good from the standpoint of the long-term economic health of the country.

But make no mistake about it. There will be pain, both political and real, at the state and local levels of government when President Reagan’s high-flying chickens come home to roost in Mr. Jefferson’s Capitol and the other statehouses around the land.

The dismal choice between loving federal deficits or being willing to shoulder the costs—including possible new taxes—required to help bring them down is almost too cruel for soundthinking Virginia conservatives to contemplate.

But it’s one we’re all stuck with as Reel II of the Reagan Saga begins.