Political pickpockets

I read on Wednesday (the 8th) that Washington is working on the bridge problem. It seems that our roads and bridges have been neglected due to the lack of tax money. Some are proposing an increase in the Federal Gas Tax to fund the needed repairs and construction.

See how easy it is? No one needs to explain where all the money from the past has gone. No one needs to explain why there isn’t plenty of money in the fund already because of all the gallons our SUVs are burning.

No one needs to explain the contradiction between our environmental cries about using too much fuel and not having enough money for roads.

No one needs to explain how government could fail so miserably at one of its most basic functions while they spend billions of dollars on congressional hearings to embarrass each other.

No accountability needed, just raise the tax and point to the gap in I-35W as justification.

And it isn’t just a Washington problem. The Motor Fuel Tax in Illinois has been “siphoned off” (I couldn’t resist) for other programs while our bridges rust away.

We allowed temporary tollbooths to build roads and got a permanent bureaucracy in return. We allowed a state lottery to fund education and found that our politicians simply gave less tax revenue to education, effectively using the lottery money for other things.

Once again, no one needs to explain. And they wonder why approval ratings of our elected officials are in the teens. It really is pathetic.