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TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2007 |
COMMENTARY | 27 |
| A lot more than one bridge could crumble under GOP |
JESSE JACKSON jjackson@rainbowpush.org A 40-year-old bridge collapses into the Mississippi River in Minneapolis. Levees give way in New Orleans at the foot of the Mississippi. An 83-year-old steam pipe produces an eruption that ter- rorizes Manhattan. As our infra- structure literally crumbles beneath our feet, America is building the largest embassy compound in the world in lraq—an area larger than the Pentagon—to manage a war |
now estimated to cost $1 trillion. What happened at both ends of the Mississippi and is happening in cities across the country are tragedies, but they aren’t random ac- cidents They are the direct price of the right wing in power. Scornful of government, intent on cutting taxes and slashing spending they system- atically have shorted public invest- ment in our basic infrastructure — in bridges and roads, in rail lines and air systems, in parks and schools. The American Society of Civil En- gineers gave America a D for its in- frastructure in their most recent re- port in 2005. Ironically bridges did better — a grade C — than sewers, water treatment and a range of other areas. In the report, more than one out of every four bridges in America were rated as structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. Don’t think about that when you drive over your next bridge. |
For over 25 years, we’ve cheated on public investment. “Govern- ment,” Ronald Reagan preached. “is not the solution. Government is the problem.” Activists like Grover Norquist took this to the extreme, saying “I don’t want to abolish gov- ermnent. I simpiy want to reduce it to the size where I can . . . drown it in the bath tub?’ Norquist and his allies have bul lied Republicans into signing a pledge never to raise taxes. In Min- nesota, the conservative governor, Tim Pawlenty, campaigned against taxes and vetoed an appropriation bill that would have provided in- creased funds for highway and bridge repairs. Interstate 35’s Bridge 9340, rated structurally deficit by the U.S. Department of Transporta- tion, had repairs on it postponed for a year One trillion dollars squandered in the debacle in Iraq, A clamp on vital |
investments here at home. Those are the stated priorities of modern-day conservatives — a far remove from those of President Dwight Eisen- hower, who built the interstate high- way system while putting a lid on military spending and balancing the budget. Ike knew that infrastructure was important; military adventur- ism was dangerous and fiscall bal- ance was common sense. Modern- day conservatives have abandoned every part of his lessons. Of course, conservatives will deny that they are responsible for the crumbling of America. In the Repub- lican debate in Iowa, every leading Republican presidential contender called for staying in Iraq and op- posed increasing taxes on the wealthy even as they admitted the need to invest in our infrastructure. They are peddling fantasies to a peo- ple in desperate need of the truth. As Minneapolis showed, disdain |
for public investment can be deadly It also snuffs out hope. Our schools are old and crowded. There simply isn’t the space to provide rising en- rollments with the smaller classes that are so necessary for the early years. We should be making schools modern sanctuaries for children, demonstrating how important we take their education to be. instead, we send them into drafty and dank buildings, with broken windows, out- moded heating systems and crowded classrooms. That is the first lesson they learn. No one should be fooled. Those who choose to spend $11 billion a month in Iraq while shorting vital in- vestments here at home aren’t se- ctuing America; they are weakening it. And as citizens from New Orleans to Manhattan to Minneapolis have discovered, we are all more vulnera- ble as a result. |