Friday, July 16, 2010

Stimulus at 3 MPH

Teaparty, longtime proprietor of the excellent blog Les Enfants Terrible, has been noticing all the signs:

The Obama administration certainly thought they found a clever way to spend taxpayer money on what are essentially political campaign signs. While that is inherently wrong and shows raw disdain for the taxpayer, it may also backfire as more and more people are reminded who is responsible for out of control spending
in D.C., and the gridlock that is making everyone's lives miserable this summer, across the state.

This is a Chicago thing: if you are ever driving around Chicago, you notice right away that the name Richard M. Daley is written all over the place, from the signs when you enter the city, to construction signs, various buildings and more. You don't really see this behavior in other places -- I don't know that any politician has his name on a state-supported sign in Minnesota. You would not know that R. T. Rybak is the mayor of Minneapolis just by driving into the city.

When voters go to the polls in November, they'll have a lot of factors to weigh. It's possible that people will forget the hideous traffic jams we've experienced in the Twin Cities, especially here in the I-35W corridor, all summer long. But if they remember, it won't help the DFL.

3 comments:

Night Writer said...

Well, road construction is a fact of life in Minnesota, stimulus or no. And for years I've regularly seen signs next to projects around the country that say, "Your tax dollars at work." (In Missouri they even add a sign after completion that says "completed on time and on budget").

As to putting a living politician's name on a project sign I think Minnesotans have a little more sense of humility. Plus, I don't think RT Rybak really wants to see "This $50,000 water fountain brought to you by RT Rybak."

The real problem here, though, is truth in advertising. The current "stimulus" signs should say "Made in China" or "Your Children's Tax Dollars at Work" or "You Are Driving on the Road to Serfdom."

Bike Bubba said...

I was thinking adding "Rod Blagojevich, President" would be a nice touch....

Mr. D said...

I was thinking adding "Rod Blagojevich, President" would be a nice touch....

It would be a #@&!! valuable thing, BB