Digby pretty much says what is really important.
…you cannot look at something like this and not wonder if the years and years of infrastructure neglect at the hands of GOP propagandists who have been starving government for decades now is finally coming back to haunt us. [Snip]
I have to wonder if any Republicans were on that bridge last night. If there were, they must have realized that sometimes we really are all in it together.
Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty is a Republican social conservative who
… signed a no-new-taxes pledge and has been a proven leader in previous tax battles,” says Gessing. “His signature achievement as governor was closing a $4.5 million budget gap during the 2004-05 cycle, without raising taxes,… (That was From “Oval Office 2008”.)
Isn’t that great? Pawlenty refused to raise taxes. Keep government small. I’m sure Grover Norquist is very proud of Pawlenty.
The Huffington Post presented previous reports on the bridge:
Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty said the collapsed bridge was inspected by the Minnesota Department of Transportation in 2005 and 2006 and that no immediate structural problems were noted.
The 40-year-old bridge was rated as “structurally deficient” two years ago and possibly in need of replacement, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported. The newspaper said that rating was contained in the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Bridge Inventory database.
Let’s see. Pawlenty is the man specifically responsible for maintaining the bridge and the highway. Can we believe him when he says there were no structural problems reported? He is also a “No new taxes” politician. Would he ever accept a report that said the bridge needed to be replaced? That would force him to break his pledge, and risk his reelection. Much cheaper just to gamble that nothing would go wrong on his watch, of course. Unless he loses his gamble. Looks like he lost. It’s a shame he wasn’t on the bridge himself, along with Grover Norquist.
The Bridge Inventory database costs $25 per state, so we will have to take secondary reports of what it says. No doubt the Minnesota Department of Transportation expected that people who might disagree with their report would not spend the $25 just on speculation that they were feeding their boss, Pawlenty, what he wanted to hear instead of the Truth. But I’m sure the Minnesota Department of Transportation employees wouldn’t lie. They just hired a consulting engineer, and with a wink-and-a-nudge made sure he knew was kind of report was acceptable if he every wanted another contract with them.
This morning’s take on the collapse of the IH 35 W bridge over the Mississippi River at Minneapolis in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune is:
For half a dozen years, the motto of state government and particularly that of Gov. Tim Pawlenty has been No New Taxes. It’s been popular with a lot of voters and it has mostly prevailed. So much so that Pawlenty vetoed a 5-cent gas tax increase – the first in 20 years – last spring and millions were lost that might have gone to road repair. And yes, it would have fallen even if the gas tax had gone through, because we are years behind a dangerous curve when it comes to the replacement of infrastructure that everyone but wingnuts in coonskin caps agree is one of the basic duties of government.
Taxes really should not be too high. But at the same time, they should provide financing for the essential functions of government. Anyone think that a 5-cent gas tax increase after 20 years would have been too much if it could have prevented the collapse of that bridge? Before you say “yes,” imagine yourself sitting on that bridge yesterday.
Another example of government failure to adequately maintain essential infrastructure was the poorly funded levees that collapsed and allowed New Orleans to be flooded when Katrina hit that city. Makes you wonder what else the engineers haven’t been able to afford to adequately maintain on the Mississippi River, just so politicians can make and keep their “No New Taxes” pledges.
Taxes are the price we pay to have a civilized society instead of living as hunter-gathers. Taxes should be high enough to pay for the critical infrastructure of society, and few would argue that roads and bridges frequently fit that category. (Sen. Ted Stevens’ “Bridge to Nowhere” does not.) But the key is that the level of taxes is a balancing act. If taxes are too high, some businesses might be stifled. If they are too low, people die, people are not educated and jobs are lost. The level of taxes is a balancing act.
The “No new taxes” mantra removes the ability to balance what is needed from Sen. Stevens’ pork. “No new taxes” leaves lawmakers trying to balance, but acting like a tightrope walker who can only move to a single side when he starts to fall. Balance under those circumstances is impossible.
I am reminded of the folk song The Springhill Mine Disaster.” The refrain is Bone and blood is the price of coal. Bone and blood is also the price of the “No New Taxes” mantra.
