Ya know, I try and try to follow Will's and Garrett's logic on the gas tax. I've tried for weeks.

I just can't get there, just too many cop-outs. You guys obviously want roads, but seem to have no faith that the state would do anything with this money. Let me try a different tack....

How many times have you tried a DIY project on your home? Car? Watch? Anything?

Did it go right the first time? How long did it take? Did you have the know-how to get it done right?

Now ask yourself, was there a professional out there that could have done it better? Faster? Undoubtedly so, though it probably would cost you some cash.

None of us four knows how to build a road, nor would we try.

My point (yes, please get to it)? These projects are way more complicated than you're acknowledging. And we're asking a government agency and government workers to do the job. These folks get tarred and feathered by conservatives all the time, but there's plenty of hardworking, bright people doing these jobs. It's just that you guys figure, hey, it 'taint that tough to build me a road. What's taking so long/so much?

You can't just go out and throw duct tape on the road. This stuff takes engineers, contractors, state patrol, traffic control, and countless other steps I'm probably leaving out. In short, this in no way compares to that lock you tried to fix this weekend.

This whole idea of passing off as "government waste" or 'liberals' as the reason nothing happens is a red
herring.
Frankly, I'd rather we do what we need to make our current road system the most efficient that we can, and then not build another road. Ever.

You want to get poor starving students to class? Use a bus pass.

You want to get single families around so they spend time with their families and not in their car? Build a mass
transit system.

There's no way we're going to road-build our way out of traffic. Los Angeles is a prime example of the wrong way
to go.

So let me try to slap both of you upside the head with the notion again: I'm voting for both of our roads projects, so we can vote for both of our transit projects next.

I mean, I'm not even forcing this on you! You've basically suckered me in to a plan that will let you continue to
drive to visit me for lunch on THIS side of the lake?

Don't you guys know when you're getting a steal of a deal?

-ian