Powerline's John Hinderaker, whose blog routinely denounces government spending and infrastructure development, writes:
This is a relatively new highway; I think the bridge is around 30 years old. There is construction underway on Highway 35. One hopes that didn't contribute to the disaster. This is certainly not an earthquake zone.
This is the kind of disaster that just doesn't happen in the United States--a bridge spontaneously collapsing, apparently, into a river. It is hard to convey to those who don't live here the astonishment of this sort of catastrophe happening on our most traveled highway.
Ideas have consequences, John. And when you advocate for irresponsible tax cuts that rob the federal government -- and thus the state government -- of revenue, critical infrastructure needs aren't met.
And in case this is all too abstract for you, Rick Perlstein is connecting the dots...
This year two Democratic Minnesotan legislatures passed a $4.18 billion transportation package. Minnesota's Republican governor vetoed it because he had taken a no-new-taxes pledge, Grover Norquist-style. That's just what conservative politicians do.
The original bill would have put over $8 billion toward highways, city, and county roads, and transit over the next decade. The bill he let passed spent much less.
As is Kevin, at Lean Left, who has much more specific information on the warnings around this bridge.
