While Washington elites congratulate themselves on electric vehicle mandates and "smart" transportation technology, America's roads are crumbling thanks to decades of broken promises and mismanaged federal spending on infrastructure.
On Friday, more than 100 economists and policy experts sent a scathing open letter to Congress demanding immediate reform of the bloated Highway Trust Fund – a system that once operated on the simple principle that people who use the roads should pay for them.
But here's the kicker: that common-sense compact has been completely shattered by politicians who'd rather funnel your tax dollars into green energy boondoggles and pet projects than fix the potholes destroying your car.
The User-Fee Scam
For decades, the Highway Trust Fund worked because it was fair and logical. Gas taxes from drivers funded road construction and maintenance. You drive more, you pay more. Simple.
Now? Washington bureaucrats have turned it into another slush fund for their climate change agenda while the infrastructure you actually need – you know, roads that don't wreck your suspension – gets ignored.
"Congress can — and should — take incremental, bipartisan steps now to put the fund on a stable, sustainable path,"
The experts are being polite, but let's call it what it is: government incompetence on a massive scale.
Smart Cars, Dumb Policies
Think about the irony here, Patriots. Washington forces automakers to build increasingly complex "smart" vehicles loaded with computer chips and sensors, while the roads these cars drive on look like they belong in a third-world country.
Electric vehicles – which Democrats love but contribute zero gas tax revenue – are freeloading off a system funded by regular Americans driving gas-powered cars. Meanwhile, your hard-earned tax dollars get diverted to bike paths, light rail projects, and other liberal wish-list items that serve political donors more than working families.
President Trump's second-term agenda includes massive infrastructure improvements, but first we need to drain the swamp of wasteful spending that's turned a simple road fund into another government cash grab.
When will Americans demand that politicians fix our roads instead of virtue-signaling about the climate? The answer starts with holding Congress accountable for decades of fiscal mismanagement.