At what point does the government cease to be "for the people"? When it abrogates its duty to protect and defend the nations borders? When it enriches a small minority to the detriment of the majority? When it uses public resources to exclude, intimidate, or spy on its critics? Is it when the public assets of a country are auctioned off to for-profit private entities? Or is it when that which is "public" becomes less free than what is "private"?
The Republican greed machine has done all of these things and more. They are willing to sell the government to the highest bidder, to pander to their wealthy constituency, to rob America of its common treasure. We've gotten used to them selling off mineral rights in and on public lands, logging rights in wilderness areas, and test drilling in delicate coastal waters. But some things go too far.
One of the givens of our society is the split between public and private access. But what if, what
if, some areas of society that have always been public...suddenly became private? I asked myself this question when I came across this
Reuters article regarding the possible privatizing of our highway infrastructure.
Looking for ways to finance highway projects without hitting the public trough, the U.S. Congress appears set to pass a proposal to encourage private ownership of new toll roads.
The provision, part of the highway spending bill now being hammered out by a Senate and House conference committee, would allow private companies to raise up to $15 billion for highway projects with bonds that are exempt from federal income taxes.
Congress is even now wrangling over how to spend an estimated $284 billion in tranportation funding. We have funds to build Alaskans a "bridge to nowhere" for around $315 million. We're financing bike and equestrian trails. We can afford to renovate the National Packard Museum and the Childrens Museum in Brooklyn. We can buy buses for Puerto Rico, all using "extra" transportation budget money. But regular upkeep on our transportation system? Fuggedabowdit. It seems the Republican penchant for cutting taxes for the rich, allowing "special" no-bid contracts to companies rife with fraud, and tossing good money after bad in their quest for military glory has bled the public coffers almost dry. What else could explain this proposal? Our highways and transportation infrastructure is the lifeblood of American commerce. Whether it's getting employees to work, delivering good or services, or just getting to grandmas house, roads and highways are always there. What if the private highway companies decide that only Republicans can use their roads? It's theirs, they would have the right. Or only white people? Or christians? Maybe that would never happen, but the possibility of KBR operatives enforcing the law gives me the willies.