By M. Scott Carter
The Moore American
May 21, 2008 12:53 pm
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Traveling across the metro lately has come, more and more, to resemble the movie Mad Max with its post-apocalyptic, crumbling desolate landscape.
Okay, that’s not to say the entire metro area is crumbling, because it’s not.
But our roads look like they came right off the Mad Max set.
And they’re getting worse.
Yes, Oklahoma, we have a major problem with our infrastructure.
Things like government buildings, roads and bridges are all falling apart. In fact, during the past few months, transportation officials have been forced to reroute traffic more than once to temporarily fix huge holes which have developed in the crumbling crosstown expressway.
A quick glance at the bottom of many of the overpasses in the area often reveals huge hunks of missing concrete or rusting steel.
Many school buildings desperately need repair and, across the area, too many students are wedged into too few classrooms.
In Moore, city officials and their education counterparts continue to fight the battle of old infrastructure. New schools are built and older schools remodeled.
City officials spend months — or, often years — fighting federal red tape to get the necessary funds to maintain overpasses and other major transportation arteries.
And they do it well — the best they can with the resources they have.
These same officials hunt and scrimp and save every penny possible to fund new projects such as a new wastewater treatment plant or road improvements.
But they shouldn’t have to.
Officials in Moore, Oklahoma City, Norman and the rest of the metro area should have the necessary funds available to keep our infrastructure current, our roads safe, and our buildings waterproof.
But they don’t.
Why?
The answer is easy — go look in the mirror.
Oklahomans are a noble breed. We are the first ones to rush in during trouble and offer to help. Okies will walk a mile down a dirt road in August just to help a neighbor.
But we’re also morons.
For too long we’ve swallowed the “no new taxes” message that many politicians have dished out. More than a decade ago, following a collective public fit, Okies rushed to the polls to make it more difficult to pass taxes.
And every time any issue that even mentions the “tax” word is discussed, people from every political stripe throw a tantrum.
Now we’re seeing the results.
And, unless something is done soon, the problem will only get worse.
This year state lawmakers have debated the merits of a multi-million bond issue to fund road and, possibly, corrections improvements.
The problem is, we wouldn’t have needed this bond issue, if lawmakers (and I mean both parties) would have had the political courage to do the right thing.
Recently, a study — pushed for by House leadership — of the state Corrections Department detailed how the infrastructure of the Oklahoma corrections system was crumbling.
This week’s “fight” at the Granite Reformatory is a stark example of that problem.
And, still, we Okies complain that taxes are too high.
We whine and moan about how government wastes money and, at the same time, we tell our leaders how we want quality schools, better roads and top flight public service.
For the record, all those things take money.
And yes, that means money from you, uncle Ned, aunt Tilly, me, Mom, Dad, the guy who runs the diner and the accountant who does your taxes.
Money from all of us.
Until we reconcile our public needs with the ongoing myth that government can be operated on the cheap, this problem will continue.
The buildings will leak more, the roads will crumble and the whole state will suffer.
It’s time to put up or shut up.
This year, instead of blindly swallowing the spin about lower taxes and “putting more money in the pocket of the working man,” try something different.
This year, try voting for someone — be they Republican or Democrat — who really understands public service. Try electing a statesman and not a politician.
Believe me, there are good public servants — on both sides of the political spectrum — out there.
But to find them you have to listen.
You have to get past the “taxes are evil” mindset.
Because if you don’t, our bridges will eventually collapse and the only person you’ll have to blame will be looking back at you in the mirror.
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