Shared responsibility

One columnist in the NYT today estimated infrastructure spending in NYC, just to replace the pipes which carry water, electricity and gas under the city at about 3 billion per year.  If you break that down to the number of workers in Manhattan every day, it works out to about the cost of a cappuccino per person each day.  (at $3.00 a pop)  However, no one is proposing a bold plan to repair or replace the aging infrastructure because the collective will is not there.  Thanks in part to the Republicans' effort to delegitimize government by mocking it  and the services it provides, people don't want to "waste" their money by "giving" it toward commonwealth projects which benefit everyone.  What is democracy but a pact by the people to fund a government with which to secure the well being of the participants.   That means we all have a stake in making government work for us.  there are legitimate debates as to the size and scope of what government should do, but that is not what Republicans are willing to do.   They want to destroy the social safety net, but in so doing, they call all functions, including policing, firefighting and infrastructure maintenance into question.  When we wake up one morning to the realization our roads are crumbling along with other essential services will we take on this libertarian nightmare and reassert our devotion to a real commonwealth.  Sometimes I despair.