Government: The Noise! The Noise!

I'm unable to get much done today because the city of Alameda has decided that my street's sewer system needed an overhaul this month. The street is full of workers digging holes with radial saws and jackhammers and backhoes. Earlier this morning they were pounding a huge pipe into the ground with a seemingly unending rat-tat-tat-tat. The noise is unbearable.

Nevertheless, I'm glad they're doing it. This is what having a government is all about, or what it should be. The conservatives, really the neo-cons, are putting us into a huge debt with the war, lowering taxes especially for their rich cronies, and cutting programs everywhere you look. Cities all over the country are feeling the pinch.

So I ask you, hypothetical Republican reader, what will you do when your sewer system backs up because your city, financially strangled by your government-weakening philosophies, can no longer afford to maintain basic services? Or when your street is so full of potholes that you can't drive your hummer to the country club? Or when your child's asthma is so bad from the pollution that she can't go play when she gets home from prep school? Is this really what you wanted?

The noise outside is hideous. But it's there because, for now at least, our government is able to use our tax dollars and invest in our infrastructure. So it's a joyful noise.