Abdication

Peter Vigue proposes to build a private toll road across central Maine because “You find that cities, states and the federal government do not have adequate funding to support the demand for infrastructure." He figures that his initial $2 billion investment would turn a profit because freight traffic across the state would be heavy. According to a New York Times article yesterday, "The expansions of the Panama and Suez Canals make this highway even more urgent, [Vigue] said in an interview last week. Bigger ships from around the world, carrying more cargo containers, will be looking for bigger, less congested ports on the East Coast, he said, and Maine already has one in Eastport.



In other words, the environmental and economic well-being of the state is being placed in the hands of a person whose sole motive is personal profit. That's not to denigrate the profit motive. Capitalism depends on the ability to turn a profit, and there are all kids of reasons to think that capitalism works well in many ways. But the ecosystem and economy of a state are held in public trust. We elect officials and representatives to guard our collective interests and to promote "the general welfare." When a state government turns those things over to private interests, it abdicates its fundamental responsibility. "Fiscal conservativism" does not call for such abject failure. 

Now is the time to recognize that we must invest in our future. By "we," I do not mean the few very wealthy people with cash to spend. Rather, I mean "we the people," who have invested government with the authority to act. Our constitution is not so toothless, as the Tea Party would have you believe, that it has to fail.