Frankly, I do not know his name but a conservative congressman was here in Georgia a couple days ago trying to convince the Georgia delegation to support a ten cent Federal gas tax increase. He says the highway fund is running out of money and we need to fund it better.
Well, now, I wonder, virtually all liberals I know support the Interstate Highway System, actually the National Defense Highway system, but these guys like the congressman have been screaming "get the government out of our lives."
My confusion is: if they really want the government out of their lives, the last thing they would want is a Federally funded highway system. After all, is it not the states responsibility to build their own roads?
There are some who may not know that Ike told Congress that he would veto a bill if it was passed for a Federal Highway concept. He said it was the job of the states to build roads. So the original bill never made it out of committee. However, the Defense Department later told Ike they needed better roads as they wanted to put Minutemen Missiles on flat bed trucks and move them constantly to avoid the possibility of an enemy first strike taking out our missiles. They discovered a lot of overpasses were not high enough for the missiles to pass under. And they needed a system with a minimum clearance to protect the US from attack. So the liberals who wanted the system anyway and the conservatives who wanted a good defense system passed the bill and Ike gladly signed the defense, not transportation bill.
But we no longer need the Minutemen so why are the conservatives now wanting Federal dollars for our highways?
Well, now, I wonder, virtually all liberals I know support the Interstate Highway System, actually the National Defense Highway system, but these guys like the congressman have been screaming "get the government out of our lives."
My confusion is: if they really want the government out of their lives, the last thing they would want is a Federally funded highway system. After all, is it not the states responsibility to build their own roads?
There are some who may not know that Ike told Congress that he would veto a bill if it was passed for a Federal Highway concept. He said it was the job of the states to build roads. So the original bill never made it out of committee. However, the Defense Department later told Ike they needed better roads as they wanted to put Minutemen Missiles on flat bed trucks and move them constantly to avoid the possibility of an enemy first strike taking out our missiles. They discovered a lot of overpasses were not high enough for the missiles to pass under. And they needed a system with a minimum clearance to protect the US from attack. So the liberals who wanted the system anyway and the conservatives who wanted a good defense system passed the bill and Ike gladly signed the defense, not transportation bill.
But we no longer need the Minutemen so why are the conservatives now wanting Federal dollars for our highways?
