Burning Bridges

First of all let me express my sympathies to the victims of the Minneapolis bridge collapse and their families. This kind of thing shouldn't happen in America unless it is instigated by some natural disaster: flood, hurricane, tornado, earthquake, blizzard...but in the richest country in the world, there is no excuse for our roads, bridges, and transport systems to be in their current state.

Everyone asks (just as they do in any disaster) why did this happen? Then again, the long Uncle Sam finger searches for someone at which to point in blame. But instead of Uncle Sam pointing outward, he should point inward and blame himself. This, like most American tragedies, is our fault, and we have the power to fix it if we begin thinking about our fellow Americans and stop thinking about ourselves.

Everyone wants tax cuts. Lower taxes, less government..blah blah blah. Politicians use the American avarice for their own benefit, winning whole elections based on their supposed viewpoint on lowering or cutting taxes. NO AMERICAN SHOULD SUPPORT TAX CUTS. It is selfish; every time someone gets a tax refund, they are stealing that money from society, they are refusing to help pay for the services we all need.

Why did the bridge collapse? The Minnesota Department of Transportation has most likely made budget cuts over several years to stay afloat; the funds allotted to them by the government have in turn been lessened. Why? The less taxes we pay as citizens, the less money goes into the government coffers to be distributed to entities like the Transportation Department. With budget cuts come layoffs and service cuts; repairs are made less frequently to roads because there simply is not enough money in the government bank to pay for it. So roads and bridges deteriorate, and then--what do we expect--bridges cave in, "accidents" happen, sinkholes appear...These events are not coincidence or chance, they are the direct result of our apathy as citizens and our selfish reluctance to contribute to the wellness of our society as a whole.

So ask your government representatives to raise taxes. Make charitable contributions. Adopt a highway. Volunteer. Do these things so that more people don't die needlessly on our roads, treading perilous paths that we have created through our hubris. Be not an America that says, I, me, my, mine...but we, ours, us.