A third (and better) option

Wednesday, January 25 Ledger-Enquirer Business section mentioned Senate Democrats’ proposal to offer an infrastructure plan to repair the United States’ roads, bridges and rail projects. This was in response and in challenge to the Republicans’ plan and the projected plans of Der Trumphfer.

Of course, at no time was there any mention of where was the funding of these grandiose plans. The answer is you and I, fellow Americans and taxpayers.

Since We The People are involved in this and of course, the infrastructure plan is many years overdue, here is my humble suggestion:

Now that the price of fuel is around $2 a gallon, instead of several years ago, when it was nearly $4 a gallon, why not add an additional 5 - 10 cents a gallon tax, both federal ( they are going to take it anyway ) and state?

The real and only objection I have to this is to make sure the federal and state plans do not use this as their personal slush fund for their pet projects.

Let the feds and the state create realistic infrastructure plans on specific projects, with the funds to be applied directly and only to those projects.

Also, let these contracts be open to fair bidding and awarded to the bidders who guarantee the projects with no cost overruns and on budget.

Conflicts

In Thursday's paper, the L-E listed the "appointees" of the Mayor's study commission to discuss replacing the existing Government Center. There were 23 people named … 15 of them currently work in the existing building or are compensated by tax dollars, and 6 of those could be held responsible for the building being in such a neglected state. Excuse me … no judge would allow people with such special interests sit on a jury to make a decision.

Apt observation

I agree completely with Mikhail Gorbachev, former president of the Soviet Union, when he writes, "Politicians and military leaders sound increasingly belligerent and defense doctrines more dangerous." Gorbachev goes on to criticize governments for their disproportionate allocations of money from state essentials and more toward weapons saying, "While state budgets are struggling to fund people's essential social needs, military spending is growing. Money is easily found for sophisticated weapons whose destructive power is comparable to that of weapons of mass destruction."

Gorbachev says that Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are "the presidents of the two nations that hold 90 percent of the world's nuclear arsenals and they have a special responsibility."

We need to heed the words of Mr. Gorbachev and stop this senseless, wasteful military arsenal buildup. It is sheer folly.

Shameful, appalling

I have lived most of my life in Georgia, working as a physician, and raising my children with the American and family values of respect, process, inclusion, and the dignity of work and work ethic. I have tried to live my life as a good neighbor and a good citizen in my community and in this country at large.

I am disappointed that our collective intelligence quotient as a nation is so low, and our bitterness quotient so high, that we have elected a demagogue who appears to be constructing his thoughtless policies from his viscera, than from reason, logic and humanity. While I respect people's right to elect whoever they desire, I can't imagine any sensible person believes $15 billion to build a wall is a good use of taxpayers’ sacrificial offerings.

If you want to discourage illegal immigration as a wealthy nation sharing a border with a poorer nation, it would be far better to invest in commerce in your neighbor's country so citizens (men and women — not criminals and animals as they have been so shamefully characterized) will have no need to breach our borders just to feed and educate their children, and have the work and safety that we enjoy in this country. What's more appalling is that this harebrain scheme that will steal billions from taxpayers is the proposal of those who call themselves “conservatives.”

As an ex-Army officer I am ashamed to own this country when I leave her shores, with this kind of nonsense coming from the White House. I implore Congress to speak out and stop this squandering of our money, our standing on the world stage, our values of decency and respect for others, and our 170-year-old tradition of alliance with our Mexican neighbors.

Faith in decency

Last Saturday, in the pouring rain, I tripped over my cat and landed on my driveway. Turns out I broke my wrist/arm in three places. A lovely young lady was passing by and stopped to see if I needed help. She helped me up the driveway and into my house.

So even in this upside-down world, there are still folks who will stop and help. To the young lady who was on Brooks Crossing Drive at just the right time, many, many thanks.

This story was originally published January 31, 2017 at 12:43 PM with the headline "A third (and better) option."