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Imagine if, instead of paying your homeowner's insurance, you raised your kids' allowance. It wouldn't make much sense, would it?
But that's what our local, state and federal politicians have been doing for decades. And because of it, a lot of things that should be fixed in this country, aren't. That's what Grover Norquist meant when he said he wanted to make government small enough to drown it in a bathtub.
He finally got his wish. Hey New York and New Jersey - let's give Grover the credit he so richly deserves!
So here we are, dealing with a weather catastrophe. Was it completely out of our control, or could we have done some things to make it less likely?
Think of all the money we haven't spent, that instead went to tax cuts. Tax cuts are only loans against money needed for our national infrastructure.
All the levees and sea walls that weren't built. The bad roads. The unsafe bridges. The aging urban sewage systems that are only fixed when they break, spilling millions of gallons of water into the streets. Our fuel pipelines are leaking.
It's so bad, it's considered a national security risk.
When I saw those nurses carrying premature babies downstairs after their generator failed, I thought, isn't that something our tax dollars should do -- protect the power supplies of our hospitals? Our high rise housing projects?
Shouldn't our mass transit system be well preserved, instead of nickeled and dimed to death by budget cuts? Instead, we see plans to sell off our parks, our turnpikes, and other important public resources.
Yet we are a country that always has more than enough money for wars, and covert operations, and weapons.
When they tell us they can't pay for the things we do need, what they're saying is they won't. Both parties have bought the Austerity Doctrine and don't even remember how to dream big for America.
Because the fixation on deficits and tax cuts at the expense of reality have made our visions very, very small. Let's not put up with this crap anymore, no matter who wins the election.
