If only I were a Physical Therapist

Ah, to be in orthopedics these days, especially in Washington and the various state capitals around the country. Surely there will be injuries with all the knee-jerking going on the past couple of days.

Virtually everywhere newspapers are asking the question, “Are our bridges safe?” And our elected officials are scrambling with immediate inspections and statistics about how many have been declared unsafe in recent years by government experts.

And First Lady Laura Bush is making her obligatory helicopter fly-over and “I feel your pain” speech in Minneapolis (with the wounded and grieving as a backdrop in the photo-ops).

We’ll hear new promises of highway money from all over as government attempts to hide the fact that they have failed at the most basic duty of government – infrastructure. The county road commission has been an American institution wherever civilization has settled. Our ancestors were taxed, a local was hired, and teams of horses and oxen were sent out to drag log scrapers along the trail to make it wide and smooth.

FYI, Parley’s Canyon, outside of Salt Lake City, was mapped out by Parley P Pratt. It was NOT a charitable venture. It was a TOLL road. Parley did the work of clearing and grading the trail and he charged people to use it!

It won’t happen, but it would sure be nice if this disaster served as a reminder to politicians that their priorities are out of whack. They ought to take care of schools, roads, cops, and foreign enemies before they spend time and money on universal health care, welcome centers for illegals, congressional hearings about drugs in baseball, monuments to themselves, setting electric rates, dictating the MPG of vehicles, telephone number portability (for a fee), the content of Talk Radio… If they are ignoring the basics, what business do they have dabbling in the rest?