Comments by "ke6gwf - Ben Blackburn" (@ke6gwf) on "Steve Lehto"
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@coryCuc if you knew your history you would know that the Interstate Highway System was a Federal project because it was needed for National Security.
Leaving the roads up to the states and counties didn't work, because you would end up with miles of muddy roads through swamps that were impassable much of the year.
This prevented interstate commerce, but most importantly made it impossible to move troops and machinery around the country quickly.
The only way to make a reliable all weather road network through all the states was for the Federal government to do it, thus the National Defense Highway Act was passed creating the plan.
And before you say the states should have done it, most of them couldn't.
Most states do not raise enough revenue to support their own roads, Interstates or state routes local roads etc.
This is why you couldn't really drive coast to coast prior to the Interstate system, because many states didn't have enough revenue to pay for it.
So all the Representatives of the States joined in Congress decided that it would make the most sense to create a central agency that would collect road funds from all the states and use it for the benefit of the nation, since keeping it connected reliably is important for both national security and prosperity.
The strength of the nation relies on the ability of a company in San Francisco to ship a truck load of widgets to New York city, and that requires at least as good a road across Nevada and Utah as across California and New York, but Nevada and Utah don't have the population to support roads that mainly carry people across the state. So that requires California and New York to pitch in to build that road, and that is ddjbr, via mutual agreement, via the federal agencies.
And remember, while the constitution may give the States certain authority, it doesn't forbid the states from deciding to ask the federal government to coordinate, and thus lend the Federal some of the State responsibilities.
Also remember that many states receive more money in taxes than they pay to the Feds, while states like California subsidize the rest of the states.
The states that receive more than they pay tend to be Republican, rural, with high acreage low density businesses such as farms and agriculture, or they have little in the way of natural resources etc.
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@coryCuc no private company is going to build a freeway through the mountains and across Nevada, none have that kind of capital to do a project that vast.
And if they made it a toll road, the toll would have to be so high just to maintain it that no one would use it, or it would take decades before it turned a profit.
But at the same time, all 50 states benefit from the freeway, because it allows year round free travel for all, encouraging economic growth and stability, in a way no for-profit company could provide..
And when you look at the few private toll roads that do get built, they are put in places that are relatively easy to build and relatively short thus cheap, have a very high volume of existing traffic so they can spread the cost over more drivers, and often they fail or have serious problems because they care more about the profits than the upkeep and safety.
I don't want to have to rely on a private company with monopoly power.
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@coryCuc you do realize that not everything is specifically spelled out in the constitution, right?
We have three branches of government, and things like interstate roads, tax collection etc, are spelled out in laws passed by congress, and then implemented by the President.
That's where the IRS comes from, congress passed a tax law, and so the president created the IRS to manage the tax law.
Same with the Highway Act.
In order for you to have a valid concern, you would have to find where the Constitution specifically FORBIDS the federal government from doing something, or specifically gives the authority to the states.
In this case, both building roads and regulating Interstate Commerce are specifically given to the federal government.
Section 8 of Article 1 of the proposed Constitution of the United States of America granted Congress the power "to regulate Commerce... among the several States, and... establish Post Offices and post Roads." Congress also would have the power to "regulate Commerce for foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes" and to "provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States."
This covers building interstate freeways.
Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution gives Congress the power to "lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United Statesc
This means that collecting taxes is legal, and also that collecting taxes for the general welfare of the United States " (such as a good road network) is also Constitutional.
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