Bridge to Somewhere

Like a banana republic-grade fever, the fingerprinting and unhinged raving about why the bridge fell down is spreading fast, hot and unchecked.

Fortunately, there's some signs of sound treatment for this ugly ailment:

Had we given the Twins Nick Coleman’s middle finger, the bridge would have still collapsed and the schools would still be bailing water. The bleeding-heart segment of the DFL has abdicated on public works, period. That there are jobs for their constituents, economic development for their communities, and intangible benefits all around is seemingly irrelevant. Or as Hennepin Commissioner Mike Opat described the mentality earlier this year, “That’s not going to solve poverty, therefore we shouldn’t do it.”

The problem here is the right’s unwillingness to tax and spend period, not to tax and spend for things that aren’t sexy. The problem here is the left’s relentless focus on inequity to the detriment of everything else. The problem here is an electorate easily lured by “taxes and government are bad” reasoning.

Among the saddest components of the bridge collapse blow back is the volume used by so many who don't know a thing about the (often dysfunctional and ineffective) way governments work. For so many, the amount they really know about civics is inversely proportional to how right ow right they think they are.