Biden rolled out his $2 trillion infrastructure plan. Roads, bridges, broadband, clean energy, housing, schools. It’s the biggest public investment proposal in generations.
Predictably, opponents call it “socialism.” That word gets tossed around whenever government does anything besides tax cuts or military spending. But building bridges isn’t socialism. Providing broadband to rural towns isn’t radical. Fixing water systems so people don’t drink lead isn’t an ideological plot.
Infrastructure is the skeleton of a country. Let it rot and the whole body fails. We’ve been living off repairs and patches for decades, pretending we can maintain a 21st-century economy on a 20th-century foundation. We can’t.
The plan isn’t perfect. Lobbyists will carve pieces out. Republicans will fight it reflexively. Democrats will bicker over details. But the truth is simple: you either invest in the bones of a nation, or you watch it collapse under its own weight.
The bill’s fate will tell us whether America still believes in collective action — or whether we’ve downsized the idea of government to tax cuts and military parades.