wsbt.com

When you look at America's greatest achievements of the 20th century it is easy to overlook two of the most impressive and daunting. The first was getting electricity to nearly every nook and cranny in rural America, and the other was building a highway system that could get people to every nook and cranny. Tens of thousands of hard-working Americans were responsible for getting those massive projects to fruition, and two great Presidents were largely responsible for having the foresight and will power to push those agendas along, Franklin Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower.

That was then and this is now. Now we have little foresight and almost no political courage.

It is catching up to us, and if we don't change our ways we will pay a dear price. Our infrastructure is collapsing, and you need look no further than our highways and electrical grids. They are slowly rotting as we - or should I say our so-called leaders - are fiddling around while Rome burns. Of course if large numbers of us told those leaders it was a priority and they better hop to it, take my word they would start hopping like rabbits. When was the last time you saw a front page story on the crumbling of America? When was the last time you saw a front page story on Charlie Sheen?

The sad part is that while we just ignore the noses already on our faces, we are losing out on advances for the future. Take green energy for instance. The Chinese are now running circles around us when it comes to green energy initiatives. We took the lead initially, but just like every other modern era idea, we let it slip away.

Building our highways and lighting up America did something else: both created jobs, lots of jobs. It also made us proud. Rebuilding our roads and electrical systems along with leading the way into a green future will make us proud again.

And did I say something about jobs?