Hate the Game, not the Players

Let me say that I am a very big opponent to pork barrel spending. Let me also say that if I had a mayor or governor who didn’t ask for way more pork than they thought they would get or would need, I would vote against that person. The simple fact is that, as Washington is currently set up, if you want a road or bridge or research grant, you have to lobby congress for earmarks. That’s the way the game works. If you don’t like it, change the game, not the players.

In case you haven’t pieced it together, I’m ranting about all of this commotion surrounding Sarah Palin and Alaska’s so-called “Bridge to Nowhere”. The fact of the matter is that federal funding is essential to building large scale transportation solutions. As governor, she said no to the bridge, but the money was already granted to the state. Being that she swore an oath to the people of Alaska, can anyone actually argue that the proper thing for her to do would be to give money back to Washington, D.C so that some other state could spend it instead? I think not.

The bottom line is that local politicians are supposed to ask for money and federal politicians (Like Senators McCain, Obama and Biden) are, in my opinion, supposed to say no and work to reform the system in a way that gets states money for worthy projects without allowing some of the ridiculous and frivolous ones to get through. Senator McCain has taken on the status quo while senator Obama has spent his time in the senate running for President and winning earmarks for his home state.

If Governor Palin had been a US senator instead of a governor, the attack lines against her keeping the bridge money would be valid. As it stands, she is just a good player in a bad game. America gets to choose between a McCain/Palin ticket that would end this ridiculous and wasteful process and an Obama/Biden ticket that would, as evidenced by their senatorial records, embrace and potentially expand it. We need to hate the game, not the players.