In the introduction to his comprehensive history of Rome, Livy invited his readers to “trace the process of our moral decline, to watch, first, the sinking of the foundations of morality … then the rapidly increasing disintegration, then the final collapse of the whole edifice, and the dark dawning of our modern day when we can neither endure our vices nor face the remedies needed to cure them.”
A strong metaphor indeed: the collapse of the societal construct as the result of too much of personal aggrandizement and the unwillingness of leaders to provide the harsh medicine that will stop the flux that drains us to the point of death.
There was no such poetry evident in the discourse following the collapse of the non-metaphorical I-35W bridge. Republicans, who rightfully feared that Democrats would jump on Governor Pawlenty’s two vetoes of gas tax increases as the proximate cause, began right away with the “let’s focus on the disaster instead of the politics” bleating. Of course, politics being, well, politics, that lament sounded just like the report of a starting pistol to Democrats lined up to trample Pawlenty under the race to assign blame.
That race has a long way to go. So far, what is clear is that the Minnesota Department of Transportation knew the bridge needed maintenance. What is not clear is who exactly made the decision not to perform it. My guess is that will never be clear. What is also clear is that performing the maintenance would have inconvenienced a lot of drivers. And, finally, it’s clear as well that politicians, and bureaucrats who answer to politicians, have no stomach for inconveniencing drivers … or anyone else who might vote, for that matter.
We all decry the failure to maintain our roads, yet what representatives of our government’s work receive more irate looks than the guys who put out the orange cones that slow us down? (At least the people who hand out welfare checks, regulate polluters, teach our children, and write speeches for members of Congress have the decency to work where we can’t actually see them.) Indeed, since Ronald Reagan’s famous “government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem” inaugural speech, the official position of his party (to which Bill Clinton later acceded) is that people who work for the government pretty much play the same role for today’s politicians as the Jews did for the Nazis in the 1930s. Everything that goes wrong—from Katrina to the I-35W Bridge—is the fault of some nameless scapegoat who is taking your tax dollars under false pretenses.
This isn’t the strategy of just one party. It’s the modus operandi of both. Politicians, whether in Washington or St. Paul, have no stomach for prescribing sour medicine for the mundane aches and pains of quotidian America. Mayors, governors, senators, and presidents will all rush heroically to the side of a collapsed bridge, pausing only long enough to remove their ties so they’ll look more like the common concerned citizen. However, a politician who actually rolls up his sleeves and sponsors a spending bill to maintain that bridge in the first place might as well put on one of those orange vests to toil by the side of the road and be reviled, or even worse, ignored, while we zip by at seventy miles per hour.
The Roman system of roads, bridges, and aqueducts was the very emblem of their power to dominate and administer their empire. Julius Caesar caused the first bridge over the Rhine to be erected just to prove to the Germans that Rome could do whatever it pleased. In a sense, our interstate network is the equivalent American demonstration of our national will. But building a road system, and a governmental system that is also modeled on Rome’s, was relatively easy. The truly difficult work of government is the work that confers no glory on those who do it.
Think ahead eighteen months or so to the opening ceremony for the rebuilt bridge. No doubt we’ll see a mayor, a governor, senators, and perhaps even a president. But, we won’t see the government workers—the engineers, the inspectors, the accountants, the police and firefighters—who provide the actual foundation that buttresses our civilization. My guess is they’ll still be shouldering the blame for rotten re-bars and rusted gussets, while our leaders take credit for the shiny new monument to their dominion.
Leave a Reply Cancel reply