The Upside of Sustainable Development and the Downside of Tea Party Idealism

Imagine a house with unconnected water pipes and drains, wires transmitting electricity and information to only a few rooms, and no steps connecting the front door to the street.  Ridiculous, you say?  The builder might save money up front by neglecting infrastructure, but wouldn’t they, in the long term, incur much greater costs by making the house unsafe, unlivable, and unsellable?  But by analogy, Tea Party activists are asking us to do just that, to neglect the infrastructure of our communities.

Infrastructure supports food, water, energy, transportation, communication, climate, and waste services our communities need to function.  It is fundamental to everyday lives and livelihoods.  It is not glamorous, and most of us ignore it – until something fails or the costs of repair become exorbitant. Or, until politically ambitious individuals attack it as a means to rally the troops and solicit donations.

Once upon a time, the US had built and maintained an infrastructure that attracted world envy and business.  It made drinking water plentiful and safe, kept rainstorms from flooding property, quickly transported workers and goods, provided opportunities for contemplation and exercise, and educated and protected citizens. Our once great infrastructure is now crumbling and new infrastructure projects are grinding to a halt because of Tea Party political posturing.  As a result, hope and opportunities are moving elsewhere.

The concerns of self-identified Tea Party activists are many and I review them elsewhere, but they fall into several broad concerns:

1)   Infrastructure projects are socialist wealth redistribution programs.

2)   Infrastructure projects promote federal government or, worse, United Nations takeover of private property rights.

3)   Infrastructure projects are incremental attacks on American and Christian values.

Moving Forward

Negotiating a thriving and sustainable future requires more nuance and strategic thinking than Tea Party critiques of sustainable development seem willing to admit.  There is a critical role for community governance to direct our infrastructure investments.  We need to invest wisely in both grey and green infrastructure in order to increase our standards of living and remain competitive with regions around the world.  It is imperative that we grow and develop, but we must do so smartly, in ways that can be sustained.

Good infrastructure not only makes money, it saves money; an argument that should resonate with tax-adverse Tea Party activists.  Neglecting infrastructure is a classic example of being a penny wise and a pound foolish.  It also weakens our national security by giving competitive advantage to countries investing in better infrastructure. Profits and prosperity flow along and because of infrastructure.  Products must be transported, devastating floods prevented, wastes must be processed and contained, food must be irrigated and processed, and a workforce must be watered.

The civil servants and public planners who put in long hours for little pay to worry about the infrastructure most of us ignore have long realized the expense and inefficiencies of piecemeal and unplanned development.  We need to support them in their work of planning sustainable development because it makes sense—and cents—to link shopping, working and housing opportunities into an efficient transportation system, to use green infrastructure so that rain replenishes drinking water rather than floods neighbors downstream and requires expensive taxpayer supported construction projects to replace what nature does free of charge, and to direct new development where already paid for sewer, water, police, schools, and other infrastructure exists.

Harm is done to us all when these public-spirited civil servants are intimidated and their reputations maligned with slurs that they are un-American, Communists, or Nazis (explicit assertions made at recent public meetings I’ve attended).  We need people to do the necessary, difficult, and thankless task of managing our infrastructure and building us a house that can be a functioning home. Rather than sling mud, let’s work together to build the infrastructure we all depend on.  We currently benefit from the infrastructure our parents were able to build. Rather than increase the tax burden of our children, we need to agree how to build and maintain infrastructure of tomorrow.

About admin

R. Bruce Hull writes and teaches about building capacity in sustainability professionals who collaborate at the intersection of business, government, and civil society. The views are his and are not endorsed by any organization with which he is affiliated.
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