I’ll tell you, politics never cease to amaze me. Here we have a conservative Republican and anti-“illegal”-immigrant firebrand, Prince William County Board Chair Corey Stewart, channeling Elizabeth Warren and Barack Obama on the crucial need for government investment in infrastructure for business and the economy to thrive. Check it out:
[The veterans of World War II — the “greatest generation”]…rebuilt American infrastructure, and as a result of that investment that that generation made in the 1950s, that has resulted in the interstate system — the importance of the interstate system to the prosperity of the United States cannot be overstated. If that hadn’t been built, America would not be nearly as possible or as wealthy or as successful as it is today...
…The future prosperity of this county lies in two things we have to get right. Every single society or government gets two things right…you’ve got to be able to allocate your resources efficiently…But, to move forward in the future, we cannot leave our children…with a deficit of infrastructure. We have got to invest in infrastructure; that is the mother’s milk of future prosperity. It means more parks, it means more libraries, and it means more roads. And if we don’t invest in those things, our kids are going to be starting behind.
It’s no better to leave our children with a deficit of infrastructure than to leave them with a large deficit on their shoulders like the federal government has done…[the “inspiring” investment in the interstate highway system by the generation of the 1950s was] the largest infrastructure project ever in world history, a half trillion dollars, 35 years worth of investment so that we can live better today. We must do the same, but we have to be honest with our citizens and our residents…
I know this isn’t going to play very well in a Republican convention next year on a statewide basis. I know that. But we need to be up front with people, and we need to let them know that you can’t get something for nothing, We have to pay for infrastructure. We can’t just promise the citizens that their tax bills are going to stay flat but yet we’re going to be build roads and schools and parks and libraries. It doesn’t work like that. We have to pay for them, and we’re going to have to pay for them now. I feel very strongly about this…if we’re going to remain the 9th wealthiest county in the United States...we have to make those investments…It’s absolutely essential to our kids…to the future that we make those investments and not shy away from them and not shy away from the cost of them.
Brilliant. Can I just say right now that, other than his egregious “illegal immigrant” bashing, Corey Stewart is now BY FAR my new favorite Virginia Republican? No, I realize that’s not saying much, but still, this speech truly rocks! Go Corey! 🙂
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