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Hurricane Helene is another reminder that America has focused for too long on expensive adventures abroad, and has neglected the necessary maintenance of infrastructure and society at home. As John and Nisha Whitehead explain at The Rutherford Institute, “Clearly, our national priorities need to be re-examined.” They write:
“You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.”—Bob Dylan
A water main breaks every two minutes somewhere in the U.S., resulting in contaminated drinking supplies and boil water notices.
One out of three bridges in the U.S. needs repair, endangering hundreds of millions of commuters. More than 42,000 bridges across the country, carrying about 167 million vehicles each day, are in disrepair.
It is estimated that 300 million people could face power outages across the United States between 2024 and 2028, due in large part to widespread power grid failures.
No wonder U.S. infrastructure received a C- on the Infrastructure Report Card.
America is falling apart.
Collapsing bridges, buckling roads, overheated railways, deteriorating power lines, contaminated water lines, outdated public transportation, overtaxed power grids, aging ports and waterways, unsafe tunnels and highways, and spotty or insufficient telecommunications assets are all becoming frequent hallmarks of the American way of life.
If the nation is woefully unprepared to deal with climate disasters such as floods, hurricanes, wildfires, and droughts, despite the hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars that have been pledged to shore up the nation’s infrastructure problems, it is because politicians across the political spectrum have failed us.
The devastation wrought by Hurricane Helene makes this failure by the government to put the needs of the American people first painfully evident. Entire towns are under water. Roadways have collapsed or are otherwise impassable. Potable water is scarce. More than 1.5 million households are still without power.
Clearly, our national priorities need to be re-examined.
Read more here.
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