10-22-2008, 12:26 AM
Quote:Perhaps in time the cost will be shouldered by the local taxpayer. Perhaps it isn't a wise move at all, although I'm sure that varies considerably from project to project. However, many, probably most, voters measure a politician's success by the prosperity they've brought in the last few years, and the projects they can point to as their legacy. That's shiny and attractive, all the way from the US congress down the chain to the state governments and to a local level. Pointing to your iron discipline in keeping money away from the community, on the other hand, is a tough sell. It's asking your community to stop grazing their cows in order to help stop the tragedy of the commons.Which is why democracies are theoretically doomed to fail. When the populace realizes they can just vote themselves money, the nation will eventually implode on its own burden of debt.