The Future Of America Relies On Developing U.S. Infrastructure
We nearly auctioned off the American Dream for pennies on the dollar and yet we keep electing people to Congress who believe compromise and collaboration are dirty words.
The truth is both parties are right and both are wrong and it is the American people who are caught in the middle. Many conservatives believe that only corporate America has the ability to create new industries while many progressives believe that government is not only the great equalizer, it is also the great stabilizer. Both are ideals from a by-gone era.
It is time for America 2.0. The American Society for Civil Engineers has released a report card giving America's infrastructure a D. The same infrastructure that once was the envy of the world is now crumbling. Save our Bridges maps out the 8,000 American bridges at risk of instant collapse. Crumbling and collapsing is not the sign of a nation on the move. It is a sign of a nation in decline. Through all this talk of debt and deficit, Congress continues to ignore one truth: there is a difference between spending and investing.
Corporate Americans are captains of innovation and job creation but they can’t afford the front loaded capital expenditures that are necessary to keep America globally competitive. Corporations couldn't afford to criss-cross the nation with railroads when their bottom line would so widely benefit from it. However, America, after being ravaged by civil war, could also benefit and so Abe Lincoln bet what was left of the house on the railroad. And pay off it did. It not only created an economic and job boom; it unified us as a people.
The private sector couldn't have invested in running electricity to every rural community across the heartland. We did that and we all benefited. The private sector couldn't pony up the funds the build our national highway system but we, the taxpayers, could. And benefit, we all did. It wasn't the private sector who looked at the moon and thought “gee, that doesn't look too far.” It was the president who said that and we believed him so much; we wrote the check. A quick look at all the patents and inventions that have come from our investment in space travel proves that, without a doubt, benefit we did.
Only a united America can be that America again in a whole new modern way. It is past time to bring the best of both the private and public sector together; each respected for what they do well as well as their limitations.
It is past time to lay-out a modern vision for how Corporate America and American tax payers can come together with the same unique American Spirit that built our transportation system for the world to envy, sent us soaring to the moon, and electrified the countryside. After all, if we can achieve those major feats during the industrial economy; think what we can do in this new economy?
Think of the 2045 headlines!
Private / Public Partnership Leads to Breast Cancer Vaccine
President Announces A 100% High School Graduation Rate
America Celebrates a Decade of No Foreign Oil
Every American Bridge is Safe for Your Family Vacation
