Infrastructure: It's job #1 to Americans
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Frank Luntz
The L.A. Times
I'm a pollster and political consultant associated with Republican causes: the Contract with America, the "death tax" and, of course, ending wasteful Washington spending. So why am I behind the new stimulus legislation - the biggest spending bill ever to be considered by Congress? Maybe because when it comes to some things - crumbling schools, overcrowded highways, an ineffective energy system, clean-water facilities that don't clean water and trains and planes that are always late - we're all on the same side.
Last month, I conducted a national survey of 800 registered voters on their attitudes toward infrastructure investment. It was commissioned by Building America's Future, a bipartisan coalition of elected officials - chaired by Pennsylvania Gov. Edward G. Rendell, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg - formed to support infrastructure investment.
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Filed under: 360° Radar • Economy • What You Will Be Talking About Today |
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I am not surprised to see these polling results; I concur whole-heartedly with them. It's time to invest in America and Americans rather than global banking and international markets.
If you build it, jobs will come, even if motor city has to start building trains and wind turbines instead of SUVs and monster trucks.
Perhaps if earmarks become a thing of the past we won't have trouble finding money for infrastructure. Keeping our infrastructure up to date should be at the top of every administration's agenda. We shouldn't have to worry about bridges collapsing under normal traffic loads – that in itself is not the mark of a modern progressive nation.