June/July 2011 • Vol. 4 No.8
Vote Them Out if They Give Our Jobs Away editor’s note
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publisher Chris Harrison associate publisher Sally Shoemaker
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editor Sandy Lender sandy@theasphaltpro.com (239) 272-8613
operations/circulation manager Cindy Sheridan business manager Renea Sapp graphic design Alisha Moreland Kristin Branscom
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Pardon me for a moment while I plagiarize the Red Hot Chili Peppers. …Come on everybody time to deliver Give it away give it away give it away now Give it away give it away give it away now Give it away give it away give it away now I can’t tell if I’m a king pin or a pauper… I’m channeling the early ’90s grunge today because the U.S. Government has once again reminded me of a bunch of people giving away pieces of our heritage. I’m not talking about our representatives voting to print up a bunch of money and hand it out to banks and programs that may or may not deserve a free lunch. I’m talking about our representatives failing us and our descendents. I’m writing this after Memorial Day thus two catalysts influence me. One, the orbiter Endeavour returned to Earth in the wee hours of the morning Wednesday, its sonic boom shaking me (and my windows) from slumber. Second, I have a sense of American pride in me right now renewed by the holiday. I have ancestors who fought for my right (and yours) to pursue the life I wish to lead in this country. I can drive the car of my choosing. I can worship at the church of my choice. I can live in the city and state where I’m most comfortable (and where I have easy access to sea turtles for my conservation efforts). My nieces and nephew can pursue the education most suited to their talents and desires without a government entity stepping in to select their paths for them. I can vote. Let’s look at that last one more closely in light of the Transportation Construction Coalition’s recent Fly-in to Washington. We can vote when we come of age, and that should strike fear into the representatives who are handing our proud and storied space program to another nation. That should strike fear into the representatives who are arguing whether or not we need to fund a long-term transportation bill that supports and safeguards our infrastructure. Personally, I have no use for Congressmen or women who negate the value of the jobs in, and on the edges of, the construction industry in favor of the program of the month or the cut of the week. Some uneducated person left one of those annoying comments on a transportation funding article online recently. You know the kind of comment I’m talking about—one alleging that illegal aliens fill the potholes in his/her neighborhood so a transportation bill would be a waste of money. I’d finally had enough of such crap and wrote up a lengthy response, detailing what the article had failed to—just what types of jobs get lost when states don’t get to plan for bigger-than-pothole projects. Of course, writing educational comments to online articles isn’t going to get a transportation bill passed. I’ve suggested it before and I’ll suggest it again: let your representatives know that you have one of those thousands of jobs that could be lost if he or she refuses to act swiftly and intelligently on transportation legislation. Congress can’t just give transportation monies away to other issues such as deficit reduction or national health care or what-have-you without repercussions. Our space program is destined to fly to other shores. As a child of the ’80s and an avid Reagan fan, I have a prejudice against handing the program our men and women worked so diligently to build to our “enemy” of the Cold War. But that’s just a side note to my disappointment. The true emptiness is from giving away something great that we built as a nation. The same is true of the economy built into our highways. Our bridges. Our scenic byways. Our national infrastructure. It’s up to voters to keep Congress from giving it away. Stay Safe,
Sandy Lender www.theasphaltpro.com | ASPHALT PRO 5