The Long View

This post originally appeared on Orphan Road.

I consider the amount of well thought out long-term infrastructure a society builds to be a direct measure of its past residents’ humanity. One does not decide to spend tax money on a 20-year subway project to get to work faster. He knows he is spending his hard-earned money to better his city, to change the environment of others that perhaps haven’t been born yet but whom he knows will live easier lives because of his actions.

I appreciate those that built our city’s water supply, the Denny regrade, our system of boulevards and parks, our bus tunnel, our nation’s intercontinental railroad, our power grid, our nuclear power plants, and even our freeway system. These projects could not have been easy or cheap, and those that voted for these plans knew they would not directly benefit for years, if ever.

Lately it feels as if we’re looking for quick solutions. Widening roads to fix traffic problems, “clean coal” to generate power, buses to save fuel. What we really need are large long-term projects: improved power grids, high-speed rail, subways, green power on a massive scale. Modern shallow politics focuses on direct voter benefits to pass laws and win elections. Have we misplaced our humanity?