Federal government

The recent Washington Post article “In the shadow of its exceptionalism, America fails to invest in the basics” contained the acute observation that “Compared with other well-to-do nations, the United States has tended to prioritize private wealth over public resources, individualism over equity and the shiny new thing over the dull but necessary task of maintaining its infrastructure.”

True enough, we don’t lean on private enterprise for coordinating the unglamorous tasks of maintaining and upgrading our airports, transit systems, utility lines, highways, bridges, ports and sewers that keep our society humming. Mostly, the planning and implementation of this infrastructure falls to our federal government.

Along with the organization of all these projects by government comes their regulation. As an example, there would have been nothing wrong with insisting that the state of Texas allow its electrical grid to be regulated, as other states have done. This would have averted its fatal deep freeze this past February.

Shouting “socialism” out of fear of overzealous government regulation often in turn is itself an overplayed card. There are some functions that only government can supervise well, such as vaccinating our enormous population against COVID-19, and alleviating the vast suffering that has been caused by our pandemic through a COVID-19 relief law.

These are not socialistic enterprises; rather, they are humanitarian. And they are what we elected our government to do.

Stan Pearson, Newport News