Can we be pioneers again?
Not long ago I told the story of a Kentucky highway that was losing the name of Daniel Boone and getting slapped with the name of some pork-barreling congressman instead.
The congressman, 20-year-incumbent Republican Hal Rodgers, had helped bring federal highway money to the state. So of course it was crucial to name a highway after him. To be clear: Rodgers is not a millionaire who is funding highways himself. It’s the tax money of all Americans he’s using to pose as a philanthropist worthy of deposing Daniel Boone.
Anyway, somebody in the audience dropped me a line to advise me that an alternative to at least one chunk of federal transportation pork has now been proposed in the Congress. My correspondent tells me that Congressman Jeff Flake, who has voluntarily limited his terms in office, has introduced House Resolution 3113 to phase out much of the federal financing of state roads. The financing would then be the job of — well, I guess the states.
Of course, the way things go now with government-funded projects, taxpayers around the country must first ship their money to DC. Then DC takes a cut and ships some of it back. As state governments and interest groups squabble like cats and dogs over how much they get to get back. Surely we will save money if all the snapping and snarling is done at the local level.
The closer to home we keep and spend our money — and the fewer politicians taking a cut — the better. Let’s do this. It’s a start, anyway.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
”’Paul Jacob is Senior Fellow of U.S. Term Limits, a national grassroots organization committed to restoring citizen control of government by limiting the terms of politicians at the local, state and national level. See:”’ https://www.termlimits.org/Press/Common_Sense/
”’This editorial is intended to provoke thought, discussion and an examination of issues. It does not reflect official policy of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii. More information about the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii can be found at its Web site:”’ https://www.grassrootinstitute.org
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