There are lessons to be learned from the recent happenings in Minnesota. Let me go through a couple of them.
First, we have this ongoing furor over repairing the 1A bridge over the Parker River in Newbury. Was the bridge calamity in Minnesota not shown on local TV?
The bridge in Newbury needs repair. The best time to repair a bridge is before it collapses not the way it worked out in Minnesota. Inconvenient? You bet, but how about considering the flipside, could you?
I read of the appeals to various politicians to stop the process and wonder why any of the politicians bother to listen to any of this nonsense. It sure wouldn’t look too hot on a politician’s resume to say that he/she stopped, or tried to stop, the repair of a bridge that badly needed repair.
The idea that the bridge would be kept open while they work on major repairs is laughable. It is somewhat like asking for major surgery while insisting that you will continue jogging while the surgery is taking place. Close the bridge down completely so that the work can be done without interruption.
Soon we’ll be hearing from folks insisting that the bridge be repaired quickly. Patience they don’t have. We’re talking about a potentially life-saving operation and these people will want it done fast. Try that one on your doctor before he performs open-heart surgery.
The work on the bridge should begin as soon as possible and be allowed to take as long as necessary.
Also in Minnesota we had an unfortunate lesson learned at Minneapolis Airport by Idaho Senator Larry Craig. This pathetic Republican tried to strike up a sexual relationship with a complete male stranger in a bathroom there.
The stranger happened to be working for the police department and arrested the Senator. The Senator hoped that a quick admission of guilt would put an end to his problems but it didn’t go that way. Soon there were denials which failed miserably especially since a tape with the Senator’s confession was handy to repute the denials.
The lesson that Senator Craig should have learned in Minnesota was that he was representing the wrong state and in the wrong political party. If he had only been from Massachusetts the idea of resignation wouldn’t even have been an option. He could have trusted the voters of this state to let him continue no matter what he did.
After all this state voted to let Democrat Ted Kennedy continue in the Senate even after he fled the scene of an accident that turned fatal because of his negligence. After all this state also let Democrat Barney Frank continue in the House of Representatives after he was picked up for allowing a male hooker to run a prostitution ring out of his apartment. Frank’s conduct was so deplorable that even the Boston Globe abandoned him but not the voters of this state.
It’s one thing for voters to lack good sense but people living near a dangerous bridge should know better.
McClelland Miscellanea 