Taxes for common good

Sign identifying work being done

Just down the road for us there is a major landscaping effort to reinforce the banks of Bassett Creek.  There must be hundreds of tons of rock being dumped along the banks of the creek.  In a recent visit with a neighbor who lives along the creek he noted how a while back, after years of unsuccessful pleading for government help, he spent many thousands of dollars on just such an effort to keep the creek from eroding his back yard.

Shoreline of Bassett Creek

Isn't this the sort of thing we do better collectively than individually?  I would hate to think of how much worse our roads might be if it were up to the property owners to fix pot holes, etc.

In this time of "anti-tax" sentiment, it seems many think we ought to all be fending for ourselves.  Collective government/tax payer supported work is now suspect, with the exception of national defense.  In the case of military spending it seems the sky is the limit.

Though I don't have property that abuts Bassett Creek, I'm happy for the neighbors that will no longer have to worry about having their back yards being eroded.  I hope that the erosion of concern for the common good will also soon be stemmed.