I just called Senator Rand Paul's office in Louisville. As some of you may know, the 50-year-old double-decker bridge carrying Interstate 64 over the Ohio River from Louisville to Indiana was suddenly closed last Friday due to cracks in the support beams. Bridge is unsafe. Yikes. But at least they found it and closed it immediately before someone got killed a 'la Minnesota.
Happening just after Obama's speech on our desperate need for infrastructure - specificly bridge- repair, in McConnell & Rand Paul's home state, after McConnell dissed the President's plan, is just delicious irony.
Anyway, the good Dr. Paul is a libertarian (although not as good a libertarian as his daddy) and is against federal funds being spent. Heck, he's against the federal government doing pretty much anything but defense.
So this is a good thing to see where Dr. Paul, as our Senator, stands on getting this bridge fixed. We need that bridge. The federal highway system needs that bridge. The commercial transport system needs that bridge.
But Dr. Paul was elected on not spending federal money, not having federal involvement, and states being self-sufficient, etc.
Per the girl on the phone - seems he's "going to meetings daily with DOT and Indiana bigwigs" and "doesn't want wasteful spending". I asked, "is he fighting for federal funds to help us get this bridge fixed asap?" Um ... "he doesn't want wasteful spending". Will he ask for federal funds to help us pay for it as our state is broke? "he doesn't want wasteful spending". Will he work with the feds to get the bridge fixed asap? "He'll be sure there is no waste - no long coffee breaks on the bridge project!".
Sometimes it's hard to be a pure libertarian in real life
But yes, I'd rather have him get the damn unsafe bridge fixed asap.