Perhaps we should have mortgaged our children’s future after all
When I get each new Gazette I confess that I usually look for the excellent gardening column first, but this time my attention was caught by the editorial “Infrastructure spending only makes sense.” I cannot agree more.
For the last 40 years the conservative mantra has been “we are mortgaging our children’s future” in a constant demand to reduce government spending, with the corollary that all debt is bad debt. The result has been a disaster for our entire society, as taxes have been reduced to the point where our basic infrastructure has crumbled. We can liken our situation to the fool who inherits a house and then lets it fall to pieces around him rather than pay for a new roof.
While my generation has given itself a tax holiday the schools have become overcrowded. Somebody funded our education, but we would prefer not to pay it forward. Our roads have crumbled, our sidewalks are uneven, our power grid is unreliable and our water often needs boiling. How can not repairing these shortcomings be good public policy?
Borrowing to build is not bad debt; it is investing in the future. Just because we are not going to be around for it is no excuse not to pay our share, and it is time for tax dodgers to stop whining and pony up. Our free ride is over and the bills are due.
David Lowther
Mesachie Lake