Debate over public structures captures the essence of the ideological divide
“Pay me now or pay me later.” For decades, a Madison Avenue ad campaign featuring a car mechanic repeating this phrase did a great job of selling automobile oil filters to Americans. In addition to being catchy, the main reason it worked so well was that it spoke to a common sense understanding possessed by most reasonably intelligent people with at least bit of little life experience. Consumers knew intuitively that doing things “on the cheap” was no way to take care of important possessions.
Unfortunately, despite its proven success in the advertising world, the simple truth behind this pearl of wisdom seems to be lost on a whole generation of conservatives when it comes to the most important of possessions – our overall societal well-being. For sad and sometimes mysterious reasons, the idea of intentional, proactive investments in lasting, high-quality public structures and systems is anathema to them. Whether born of simple, shortsighted selfishness or a sincere, but misguided reading of history, the ideological right can’t seem to see the forest for the trees; that investing today in robust, high quality public structures will pay all sorts of dividends later on.
The current debate
Here in North Carolina we are witness to this kind of miserliness on a daily basis as right-wing politicians and propagandists work to undermine or rollback virtually every common good public investment that forward thinking government leaders attempt. From the public schools to public transit to public lands, the right tries to block virtually every effort.
When they can’t stop new investments, modern conservatives fight to get things done on the cheap. They carp incessantly about the price of every new building or bridge or program and seek to sell off public assets (or at least the “naming rights”) to private investors. God forbid that a new public structure might actually be aesthetically pleasing or include displays of art or innovation.
The results of this shortsighted approach to public life are there for all of us to see. Compare the public structures – schools, courthouses, libraries, buildings of various government agencies – of today with those of the early and mid 20th Century. Talk to the officials who plan new public construction projects today and listen to them explain the corners they are forced to cut.
Some of this shift is a byproduct of our increasingly disposable modern society, but much of it is the work of the pessimists and the naysayers on the ideological right who have frequently hijacked the debate and convinced millions of people that coming together to produce great public structures and systems is “socialistic”; that it involves the “the government taking their money.”
Consequences of inaction
Examples of the results of this misguided and destructive ideology abound. Visit just about any modern North Carolina public school and examine the quality of the construction and materials used. Talk to the principals and teachers about their inadequate and shrinking maintenance and custodial budgets.
With a few exceptions, things look and feel, to put it bluntly, cheap and poorly maintained. New buildings are nice enough, but only for a while. Many structures from the 1980′s and 90′s that ought to still be considered “new” are already desperately in need of overhaul or replacement. In Wake County this summer, some schools may not have enough money to wash and polish their classroom floors because of tight budgets.
Of course, the results of such stinginess go well beyond the structures themselves and carry over to the services rendered therein. If you ask people to teach or deliver mental health services or issue drivers licenses in decrepit, unpleasant facilities, chances are that their performance will often sink to the level of their surroundings. (As an aside, threatening them with random bodily searches in order to keep their inadequate health insurance coverage won’t help morale a whole lot either).
This is why so many large, profitable corporations take the opposite approach and invest in top flight facilities. Their owners and CEO’s have figured out that it’s good for business. Employees look forward to coming to work and take more pride in their performance when they aren’t forced to toil in dingy and dilapidated surroundings. High quality public structures offer the added benefit of providing the entire community with a source of pride and, frequently, a multi-purpose gathering place that can bring the community together for lots of different events.
Transportation and urban development
The truth of the “pay me now or pay me later” maxim is also readily evident in the world of transportation and urban development. Communities that invest in preserving and enhancing their urban infrastructure almost never regret it. Unfortunately, ideologues still refuse to see this truth.
Next month in Raleigh, city officials and a number of forward-thinking business groups will officially christen a major facelift that has been provided to the city’s Hillsborough Street corridor – in effect, the front porch to North Carolina State University. For many years, the street has been a dangerous eyesore – a seedy and potholed road that was, at once, a gathering place for students and a veritable freeway for commuters. Now, in an example of sound public investment, the street has been dramatically remade to dissuade speeding cars, encourage shopping and private businesses and just generally beautify and humanize the neighborhood.
But, of course, getting the project through wasn’t easy. As with so many other successful urban projects, the ideologues on the right fought progress at every turn.
A few years ago, the John Locke Foundation tried to help stall the Hillsborough Street revival by concocting a rather strange report that warned of the supposedly calamitous dangers posed by “traffic calming” (i.e., the city’s diabolical and no doubt socialistic plan to add traffic circles and end the practice of commuters racing down the street in an effort to beat every light). The report’s main recommendation: more traffic cops.
Years before, of course, it was one of the Locke group’s fellow travelers, former Raleigh Mayor and current state Republican Party chair, Tom Fetzer, who led the charge in delaying all efforts to remake downtown Raleigh. The same forces were also behind the ultimately unsuccessful efforts to torpedo Charlotte’s visionary light rail system. There are numerous other examples around the state – many of them successful unfortunately – in which conservatives ideologues have worked to block visionary public investments and helped keep communities mired in place.
A presumption for progress
None of this is to say that all big public development schemes are perfect. Wherever there is human enterprise on a large scale there will be mistakes and waste. Society certainly needs watchdogs to help assure that public structures do not become mere monuments to powerful leaders or vehicles for handing out lucrative contracts to well-connected businesses and campaign contributors.
Ultimately, however, there is a big difference between a careful, but forward-looking steward of public resources and a self-defeating, pessimistic tightwad. If there is a presumption that ought to guide state and local leaders when it comes to public investments, it should be that we favor things that are built to last; that its okay to spend generously today for the benefit of everyone (particularly our children) in the future.
In other words, we ought not be afraid to pay now so that we can avoid paying later.
