With the next White House and Congress poised to push through an ambitious infrastructure-spending plan, what should conservatives be ready to do? What is a conservative infrastructure strategy and how realistic is it in Obama?s Washington? National Review Online asked some experts and me.
Conservatives have already begun to ridicule projects ? from tennis centers to dog parks ? that cities and states are calling infrastructure just to get part of the trillion-dollar Obama-lode. We need to continue showing the waste among projects and the broad definition of infrastructure implied by them.
On top of that, we need to show the poor value even in real infrastructure projects such as roads and rails. North Carolina?s road spending is supposed to encourage economic development. Small towns throughout eastern North Carolina have beautiful four-lane roads but still no growth, while the growing Charlotte, Greensboro, and Raleigh regions have increasing congestion. Those larger cities, and their brethren across the country, now look to trains as a way to control where people live ? I mean, to promote growth.
Japan tried the same approach throughout the 1990s, paving riverbeds and actually building bridges to nowhere. Again to no effect.
The conservative approach to infrastructure should focus on self-sustaining projects. Many areas in the country already have private electric, gas, phone, and cable services. Most recent subdivisions have private roads. Private water and rail systems work in places around the world where there is demand. Let?s try privatizing more infrastructure, just for kicks.
