Have a look at our road. You can probably see at least one from a nearby window. Maybe it’s gravel, or asphalt, or even cobblestone. And for all practical purposes that road is ours.
Sometimes there are tolls to be paid, and there are private school students and resort-goers and other exceptions.
But if you can see a road from your window then it's almost certain that you may use it.
It’s out there. Just go ahead and look at it.
…
Roads. Known down to the ants as a great way to help move large societies along.
And for modern humans the same goes for drainage systems, sewage systems, bridges, dams, canals, locks, and dozens and hundreds of other often unsung but expensive things. Expensive as in, you know, taxes. When the goal is housing and commuting and feeding and watering some millions of human beings then both logistics and overhead can get pretty steep.
Somehow we lost the message on that one, and shade was thrown on collective effort of any kind. Somewhere along the line anything achieved by government, in other words by way of taxes, became suspect.
But once the need for healthy infrastructure investment was considered obvious. Even, dare I say it, bi-partisan. Indeed, many would be surprised at some of its loudest advocates though history. One of them was president Dwight Eisenhower (R), and on some fronts Ike was really quite the progressive. (This obscure phenomenon, a progressive Republican, was once occasionally seen among American politicians. It's found today almost exclusively in history books.)
For one thing Ike saw clearly the utility and wisdom of roads.
Good roads.
Lots of good roads.
To serve everyone.
To be everyone's.
To nurture growth and economic strength.
To literally drive our country.
Investing in ourselves. Planning for our future…. What a friggin’ concept.