On More Toll Roads

This morning’s Philadelphia Inquirer contained another disturbing story concerning the privatization of state roads. Columnist Joseph N. DiStefano continues to prime the populace for more toll roads. He states that in earlier years there were many toll roads.

But those roads were built by private interests whose investment needed to be repaid. When the government built the highway system it was with tax dollars and for the benefit of the citizens, not for the profits of transnational corporations.

Naturally the Republican-Democrat Party is all for giving our roads to the corporations. The politicians will probably be exempt from having to pay, just as they get so many perks the average citizen does not enjoy.

DiStefano quotes a lawyer, Frank M. Rapoport, who will make hundreds of thousands, if not millions, off this give-away. Rapoport states as if it’s the most logical move in the world that “Nobody’s against this.” Obviously this opportunistic a-hole does not even consider all the little people who will have to curtail some of their activities because of the extra financial burden, nor the small businesses that will be hindered by these extra transportation costs.

There are three obvious answers for the problems of infrastructure repair and maintenance that the tolls are supposed to address. The first is to get the large corporations and extremely wealthy individuals to pay their fair share of taxes instead of paying their lawyers and accountants to finagle their books and avoid their tax obligations.

The second option is to stop giving money to other countries to buy their influence on short-sighted policy agendas that benefit the transnationals. We all know that the majority of this money goes to corrupt individuals with the power in those countries, or is used to pay for projects that enrich those individuals and the corporations they hire, all to the detriment of the common folk of the host countries.

The third option is to stop paying trillions for the illegal, immoral and failed wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that have killed, maimed, and displaced millions and millions of innocents, including many of America’s own young soldiers. Why are we paying companies like Halliburton to give lip service to rebuilding these countries we destroyed, while our own infrastructure continues to crumble? So that transnational corporations can pick up our assets and control our movements?

Any one of these options would pay for the rebuilding and maintenance of our roads. All three would allow our entire infrastructure to be properly maintained. Furthermore, the second and third options have benefits to America and the world well beyond just the rebuilding of our infrastructure.

Rapoport thinks creating and tolling just the express lanes would be a satisfactory solution. Typical elitist thinking! Let the unwashed masses sit in traffic while they watch the rich and powerful zip on by.

Let’s keep our roads free for the benefit of all America and their guests, and let’s pay for the necessary maintenance with the money we are now using to kill innocents, to destroy countries, and to enrich the already rich and powerful.