NixGuy (I appreciate the link from him to me) has a nice post on the bridges and, contrary to my thoughts, believes there are too many politicians involved in the building of roads and bridges, which is why they take so long.
This is where I disagree with him. Long ago, congress and state reps decided to waive their responsibility for governing by allowing power to exist within government bureaucracies, also known as "agencies"
These bureaucrats are not elected and as a result have no accountability to the wants and needs of the general public.
I just heard Steve Chabot (for the record, one of our best congressmen) on the radio blathering about how the Brent Spence Bridge project had already begun. Bull Crap. If they started digging today on the project it would take 15 years to complete. Within 15 years, that bridge is not only going to be rated "Functionally Obsolete" but "Structurally Deficient". All that's been started by the bureaucrats is "starting to talk about it".
It all gets back to reps making government so big that they can't manage problems like these. If they simply kept government responsibilities to what it should be, roads, police, fire and, for the feds, add defense then we would actually see something happen on these bridges and four people would be alive today.
I'm telling you, I hold every congressman, senator, DOT representative, and state rep responsible for those lives being lost yesterday.
1 comment:
I actually batted this around in my head today when I responded the way I did.
If you leave it all up to the DOTs, you run the risk that they (as unelected officials by and large) will not respond to public pressure when they need to. Even more, as low level officials they might be more supsceptible to bribes and payoffs from the contracting companies. (not that that couldn't happen as it is).
But if you let the politicians direct the dollars, then we have the problem of money being spent on high-visibility projects while ho-hum things like adequate maintenance get the short thrift.
Bridge-to-nowhere being a prime example.
My conservative principle tells me to resolve the dilemma by pushing the decision making down to the lowest level possible, and trust the professionalism of 95% of the civil engineers out there. They'll get it done if you give them the adequate resources.
Sorry about the length.
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