Our infrastructure is crumbling away in this country.  According to the American Society of Civil Engineers a third of the country's bridges are "structurally deficient or functionally obsolete."  Of the 78,000 dams in the United States, over 9,000 are considered "high hazard" which means their failure will cause significant loss of life and property damage.  Our waterways are operating with obsolete lock chambers and river channels are unable to handle today's heavy barge traffic.  In many parts of this nation river flooding with its attendant loss of life is still an annual event and as we so sadly learned from the experience of New Orleans, flooding causes more deaths in this country than any other "natural" disaster.  Many city sewer systems are over 100 years old and no longer capable of handling any kind of storm, much less a storm of the magnitude of Katrina.

We have become a nation of slumlords - quick to collect the rent, but unwilling to invest in or improve the property.  Unhappily, we've lost a vision of the future - we invest only with this quarter, this year's bottom line in mind and like most slums the victims are more than likely to be poor and/or elderly, the most vulnerable among us.

How can anyone in this country claim to be a "proud American" when the back porch is falling off the house and weeds are growing in the walkway?  We're boasting to the world about our way of life, our 'values" and our love of living and we're inhabiting a ramshackle house which everyone sees but us.  If democrats and liberals are looking for an "issue" how about this - we vow not to knowingly allow another tragedy like New Orleans happen again.  We instill some real pride in ourselves and fix what's broken so that future generations have a sturdy foundation and roof over their heads.  It's an issue that isn't glamorous or can be reduced to a slogan and a soundbite but it's the most sensible and humane work we can do.