I rarely find compelling anything Bob Herbert has to say, but today I came dangerously close to cut-and-pasting this in its entirety to ensure that you will read it. I'll restrict myself to an excerpt and some strong encouragement (really, read it).
We can go to war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and threaten to blow Iran off the face of the planet. We can conduct a nonstop campaign of drone and helicopter attacks in Pakistan and run a network of secret prisons around the world. We are the mightiest nation mankind has ever seen.
But we can’t seem to build a railroad tunnel to carry commuters between New Jersey and New York.
The United States is not just losing its capacity to do great things. It’s losing its soul. It’s speeding down an increasingly rubble-strewn path to a region where being second rate is good enough.
The railroad tunnel was the kind of infrastructure project that used to get done in the United States almost as a matter of routine. It was a big and expensive project, but the payoff would have been huge. It would have reduced congestion and pollution in the New York-New Jersey corridor. It would have generated economic activity and put thousands of people to work. It would have enabled twice as many passengers to ride the trains on that heavily traveled route between the two states.
The project had been in the works for 20 years, and ground had already been broken when the governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, rejected the project on Thursday, saying that his state could not afford its share of the costs. Extreme pressure is being exerted from federal officials and others to get Mr. Christie to change his mind, but, as of now, the project is a no-go.
This is a railroad tunnel we’re talking about. We’re not trying to go to the Moon. This is not the Manhattan Project. It’s a railroad tunnel that’s needed to take people back and forth to work and to ease the pressure on the existing tunnel, a wilting two-track facility that’s about 100 years old. What is the matter with us?
I wrote about this exact topic back in March in response to the stimulus bill's curious lack of emphasis on repairing our nation's crumbling basic infrastructure. If anything, Herbert understates the problem. It isn't merely that we can't build a new railroad tunnel; we can't even keep what we have from falling apart. At one time we didn't think any challenge – technological, economic, military, or social – was too big. Now, in the misguided belief that penny-pinching is going to solve our problems, everything is too big.
How pathetic is this? There is a fine line between American Exceptionalism – the swaggering hubris that accomplishes nothing positive – and a healthy optimism. Everywhere we see the signs not only of three decades of lousy political leadership but of giving up anything resembling concern (let alone hope) for the future. We gut forward-looking investments like education and healthcare because we don't give a flying shit about tomorrow. We hear nothing except how we can't afford anything…and who among our neighbors we should blame (Unions! Welfare queens! Mexicans! The elderly! Greedy GM retirees! Teachers! Doctors! Lawyers! EVERYONE!!) Of course we believe we can't accomplish simple goals when we're bombarded with a carefully orchestrated campaign to make us hate each other.
To paraphrase Jimmy Carter's famously unsuccessful speech, we've sunk into a deep malaise.** It's so deep that keeping a public school open or fixing century-old urban infrastructure seems impossible. And there's no need to do any dramatic soul-searching to figure out why and how it happened. Generally speaking, when I can plausibly tell a group of people that their pessimism has gone too far, it's not a good sign. It's time to face the fact that we could build the stupid tunnel if we wanted to, just like we could give everyone healthcare, old age financial security, or a decent education if we wanted to. The problem is that we don't want to. We don't want to because we're depressed, because we're constantly told we can't, and because we don't give enough of a crap about one another to care who goes without what.
**If you're ever in a trivia contest, note that the word "malaise" appears nowhere in Carter's "Malaise speech."
Nunya says:
America is starting to look a lot like Brazil except that Brazil has a thriving economy and a growing progressive tax base.
Yep, it's time to get into the construction business in Sao Paolo.
J. Dryden says:
We cannot perform public works without public funds.
We cannot use public funds without substantial taxation to supply/replenish those funds.
We cannot impose substantial taxation because the only way to rake in the kind of dough we'd need, we'd have to hike the rates on the wealthy.
Who will never let this happen, even though it ought to be a theoretical slam-dunk in a democracy. And who will continue to keep the muddled masses distracted from this obvious fact by blaming the ills of the world on some unrelated issue, like queers gettin' hitched and how people would become immortal if they just allowed prayer in schools.
Great work is expensive, and labor intensive. Grievance is free, and easy. And since the victims of the crumbling infrastructure tend to be people we were never very fond of to begin with ("Shout out to the dead-man-floatin' peeps in the 9th Ward!"), we're really untroubled by the catastrophes that will, with increasing regularity, continue to occur as it continues to fall around our ears.
So, yeah, basically what Ed said.
Xynzee says:
So this is the results of 3 decades of Reganomics (4 if your from CA and the legacy of Msr 13).
Every govt has bought the mantra that spending is bad and taxation is even worse. Of course they could farm it out to private industry. Which means that it's now too expensive for the average person
Xynzee says:
To use (and why would they as there's a cheaper public option avail.) Oh no! That won't do, the govt now needs to intervene to help the company rape the public by removing the affordable option. But hey that's perfectly ok and good for the Market.
Ever notice how it's evil if the govt does things on behalf of the ppl and great if it intervenes on the behalf of business.
acer says:
Americans have certainly lost their civic resolve, but, more importantly, the mega-rich managed to systematically set up a dictatorship. Anyone not at the peak is subject to relentless brainwashing and abuse. I'm always happy when you take a stab at optimism and really do hate to be a pessimist here, and I'd like to think we could eventually sack up and rebuild. But if we're the same people who went to the moon, or anything remotely close, why would any of us stand for this shit? How would 98% of the country find itself either completely servile or constantly on the defensive? In the worst economy of a lifetime, how would anyone vote for a mercenary earthstain like Christie? How would "populism" = the motherfucking Tea Party? Because the libertards won, Ayn Rand is bigger than Jesus, and "real Americans" are just fine with it because that's what we've become.
Bette Noir says:
This country got a late start and is fixing to have an early ending — now THAT's exceptionalism . . .
Satur9 says:
The United States is not just losing its capacity to do great things. It’s losing its soul.
If I had a dollar for every time some unimaginative columnist reaches for this utterly fucking worn-out, maudlin "losing our soul" phrase, I would be able to build a light rail system powered by unicorn droppings that drops every single person in the country off at their front door.
Sarah says:
Aaaaaand "Satur9" just proved the point of the column. Congratulations.
Satur9 says:
A sarcastic aside about clichéd writing "proves the point" of the column? I did not know that my mighty powers of sarcasm were responsible for sapping the United States' collective willpower to get things done. I'll try to use them for good from now on.
chiver17 says:
Amen, J.Dryden. and Ed too, for that matter. well said.
Meanderthal says:
If I had a dollar for every time some unimaginative columnist reaches for this utterly fucking worn-out, maudlin "losing our soul" phrase, I would be able to build a light rail system powered by unicorn droppings that drops every single person in the country off at their front door.
If I had an arbitrary amount of money for every time someone decided to attempt to be clever and use the old saw of "If I had [x money] for every time [something happened], I'd be able to [accomplish something absurd]," I'd be able to build a network of teleportation devices that would put your light rail to shame.
Satur9 does not so much "prove the point" as "miss the point", which is why he's reduced to bitching about cliches.
anotherbozo says:
The U.S. has become California. (poignant for me to say, an ex-Californian)
U.S. citizenry have become 20 million Californians sobbing about high taxes and not able to connect the dots between investment and productivity and economic well-being.
We have been wrecked, it's true, by Reaganomics. And further hobbled by an uncorrected history lesson that has left St. Ronnie, corporate-owned pols and warmongering cons unrepudiated.
John says:
And the truly depressing part of it all is that the same people who won't build the tunnel because it's "too expensive" and "we can't afford it" are perfectly willing to spend infinite dollars in the preposterous Unlimited Wars to blow up more brown people.
I agree with the Republicans, to an extent. Yes, let's cut government spending — starting with our completely unnecessary neo-colonialist military. Make the Department of Defense about actual Defense, not blowing up people who disagree with us overseas.
anotherbozo says:
@acer: "Anyone not at the peak is subject to relentless brainwashing and abuse."
Great line, sums it up. Some gifted phrasemakers here. I should shut up and take notes.
ed says:
I rarely find compelling anything Bob Herbert has to say
Perhaps the people of Tulia, Texas feel somewhat differently. A sampling:
http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript_tulia.html
Compelling enough for you? How many lives have you saved in your day?
Brighton says:
Yeah, and then David Brooks writes an op ed this morning blaming public sector unions for the NJ government deciding to pass on the tunnel money. WTF? Giving a teacher, cop or fireman a decent pension for actual hard work is wasteful, but I suppose a $50million bonus to pinata-guy the hedge fund manager is sound private investment in future prosperity? bite me. My 2 cents here: http://brighton-towne.blogspot.com/2010/10/unions-are-not-problem-david-brooks.html
waldo says:
…the swaggering hubris that accomplishes nothing positive
I thought it read "the swaggering hubris that accompanies nothing positive".
And yes, a vast array of stats confirm your analysis. The USS US is going down at a rate of knots; to quote Alistair MacLean " her thundering screws her own executioner".
mtraven says:
Build a tunnel? We can't even supply our schools with toilet paper. Bring your own, kids, because otherwise that would be socialism.
It's as if some faction was trying to make Margaret Thatcher's bon mot about how "there is no society, only individuals" become true.
Monkey Business says:
I blame Reagan. It's his particular blend of conservative economic theory and social conservatism that's lead us to this point. At the time it was so off the wall that even his own future vice president thought it was nuts.
The rich get richer. Everyone else gets poorer.
Hazy Davy says:
I've enthusiastically read Ed's writing for some time.
Some comments I like. Others I hate.
I'll use my October commitment to rhyme
and say that J Dryden's comment was great.
It's short and direct, just like me.
jazzbumpa says:
Shorter everybody: We're fucked!
And you're SO right.
JzB
Zosima says:
Maybe this is just self-serving bias, but it seems to me that the recent history of the us has tracked a parabola laid out by the lives of the baby boomers. We're not building new infrastructure because the baby boomers don't have a ton of future to look forward to.
Tim H. says:
The "Big Money" has lost faith in America and no longer feels it is a good investment to build much here, they've swallowed the right's anti-government propaganda hook, line and sinker.
Zeb says:
So how long before we start to see an American brain drain?
Satur9 says:
Satur9 does not so much "prove the point" as "miss the point", which is why he's reduced to bitching about cliches.
"The point" of the column is fucking obvious and there's not much to add to it. Really, I had no idea you weirdos were so defensive over hackneyed phrases or I would have never brought it up.
ts46064 says:
Guys, don't feed the troll (satur9)
Anyway, what Ed said.
The Man, The Myth says:
Yes its sad but true. I give up though.
mm says:
The key here is that Gov. Christie cannot allow any government program to actually succeed on his watch.
If the tunnel succeeds in its purpose (which if built it certainly will) then that negates 40 years of GOP propaganda about how government does not work.
Nunya says:
I agree with the brain drain reference. We won't have much of a problem with H1B visas in a few years.
tone says:
The real problem is there is never any money for what the people need – only for endless wars of conquest and tax breaks for the very richest of all.
If we end the wars there will be plenty of money for roads, bridges, tunnels and health care.
Da Moose says:
Since our modern problems can be tied directly to the mass production of carbon deposits that lead to cheap oil that ultimately lead to cheap money, the answer is energy. For example, the federal government should not give money to the states that is not money tied to immediate projects that reduce state energy consumption over time. This is simply so that the next time the federal center is asked to pony up additional funds to the states, the money amount will be smaller in size due to sustainable state energy demand thereby reducing state dependency on the feds while lessening the federal fiscal deficit. So, the feds need to subsidize the hell out of state infrastructure with immense deployments of solar arrays, turbines, smart grid technology, and thermal. It is so clear. The American 20th century was characterized by shortened trade routes and shortened communication time. Let's make the American 21st century be about building an infrastructure that derives its energy from 75% local sources. The key is modifying our current level of energy consumption to suit new realities. You can be sure if America does realize this by 2020, America and its federal union will cease to exist in its current form.
The Man, The Myth says:
Da Moose has the best comment. Energy efficiency is the most pressing need for the world generally.
Shane says:
This post reminds me of the videos I have shown in class before of the building of Hoover Dam. This was an enormously expensive project with a huge amount of risk and plenty of unknowns and yet the plowed ahead and accomplished something that really is remarkable for the time. If only we still had that same sort of political will. I sort of hoped the "Great Recession" might help foster it, but apparently not.
Bugboy says:
China might have problems but one thing they do get right is making things happen. Case in point is the billions of dollars they have committed to alternative energy transportation. Necessity is the mother of invention, and China NEEDS this.
Meanwhile in this country the rich are busily dismantling the gilded plumbing and taking it with them…to where I have no idea. When anarchy comes, who they going to call to save them from the guillotine? They forget following the French Revolution there was a spite fest among the ruling class fought with the guillotine.
I fail to see why the ruling class has convinced the rest of us to be so selfish, I remember when I was a kid in the 70's hearing the old fart down the road complaining that he shouldn't have to pay school taxes since he didn't have any kids in school. Things haven't changed much.
Robber barons can't better describe the entities raping this country.
Paul W. Luscher says:
Nice to see the Repubs are taking us where the Communists took Russia: A musclebound country which collapsed from internal rot.
Barry says:
Zosima Says:
"Maybe this is just self-serving bias, but it seems to me that the recent history of the us has tracked a parabola laid out by the lives of the baby boomers. We're not building new infrastructure because the baby boomers don't have a ton of future to look forward to."
Considering that a whole bunch of Baby Boomers are getting scr*wed over, and that the 1% consists of people of all generations, perhaps you should look at the actual people ripping the rest of us off.