NEW YORK, Aug. 2 (AScribe Newswire) -- Following is commentary by Greg Anrig, Jr. vice president of programs at The Century Foundation. Anrig is a regular columnist for The Guardian. He is the author of the forthcoming book, "The Conservatives Have No Clothes: Why Right-Wing Ideas Keep Failing" (John Wiley & Sons, September 2007).
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The news coverage of the Minneapolis bridge collapse, like that of the New York City steam pipe explosion a couple of weeks ago, was filled with expressions of relief that the incident seemed to be unrelated to terrorism. But for the families of those killed or injured, the distinction won't be any consolation. And for the rest of us, it shouldn't be either. Why should it be any more comforting to know that intentional sabotage was not responsible for the bridge collapse, when chances are that whatever contributing structural deterioration that occurred over its 40 years is no doubt far more pervasive in the transportation systems we all use every day.
Making us less vulnerable to sudden, out-of-the-blue preventable disasters is the job of government. And a collapsing bridge, an exploding underground steam pipe, the inadequate levees in New Orleans, or the countless breakdowns in infrastructure that Steve Perlstein (http://commonsense.ourfuture.org/thebigcon) chronicles on an everyday basis are virtually all preventable and therefore constitute failures of government. Cutting taxes some more isn't going to solve this form of terrorism. Nor will prattling on with banalities about limited government. Nor will continuing to leave the process to the whims of the likes of Sen. "Bridge to Nowhere" Stevens.
Unfortunately, "investing in infrastructure," stated as such, probably isn't much more of a winning political plank today than it was a week ago. The right has successfully programmed the public's brain cells to convert that soporific phrase to the word "pork." Based on my extensive googling for a half hour, none of the major Democratic candidates have said much about the topic outside of how it relates to the environment and global warming. (Commenters should definitely correct me if I'm wrong). I didn't bother googling the Republican candidates since all conservatism has to say about infrastructure is silliness related to the efficiencies of selling chunks of it to private owners.
So rather than talking about infrastructure as such, maybe politicians should focus on the subject as a matter of public security, which it most definitely is. Just as the government is responsible for protecting the public from terrorism, it is equally responsible for protecting citizens against lethal failures of bridges, roadways, other transportation systems, and underground structures that can cause collapses. And developing a far more effective and efficient strategy for improving public security against disasters like the one in Minneapolis requires the leadership of individuals who actually believe in government's capacity to solve problems - a belief fundamentally at odds with the modern conservative movement, as demonstrated in recent years. Those candidates might want to take a close look at the ideas put forward by the group led by Felix Rohatyn and Warren Rudman, summarized in a piece in the Washington Post two years ago (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/12/AR2005121201 263_pf.html).
Whatever particular causes emerge for the collapse of the Minneapolis bridge, conservatives have no answers for preventing the same kind of thing from continuing to happen again and again. As Perlstein continually argues, they have much to do with why it keeps happening in the first place. The rest of us better find someone who isn't cowed by the "pork, pork, pork" crowd on the right who is willing to suggest some ideas that will work.
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CONTACT: Laurie Ahlrich, 212-452-7722
NOTE TO EDITORS: The above opinion piece is available for free and immediate use with the following attribution: This article first appeared in TPM Cafe.
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