I won't say anything more...

...after this.

We have, scattered across the landscape of these United States, monuments of big government. Ringing every major and most minor metropolitan areas are interstate highways. Powering a majority of western and mid-eastern states are hydro-electric stations. Bridges across major rivers and geographical obstacles. The list goes on.

Big government projects are not evil. They are not to be avoided or shunned. They are NECESSARY for the continued economic, cultural and social development of our nation. Where and when these big government projects fall therefor becomes an intense, soul renting debate.

It pains me as an aficionado of history and as a person who did not vote for Obama to draw comparisons to the New Deal. But in this instance, the creation of a hydrogen manufacture/distribution system across America, it is applicable. What was the goal of the TVA, the BLM and a fair portion of the WPA? The electrification of the United States. The private sector, for a solid generation, made no moves to spread the power grid beyond city limits. It fell on the Federal Government to make it happen. We all agree, publicly, that the WPA, TVA and BLM were successes.

How, then, is this different? How, then, is this argument AGAINST such a plan any different than a Hooverite arguing against the dams, power lines and bridges being constructed through federally awarded contracts in the 1930s? The means to an end is the domestic production of a vast amount of very cheap energy, on a grand scale.

It's a moot point. It's not going to happen. No elected official sees the historical model for what it's worth, the blueprint for SUCCESSFUL stimulus. But to dismiss the plan out of hand as a fanciful liberal idea is wrong both ideologically and historically. This nation was built on large, big government projects. It continues to run every day on the results of said projects. New projects will come in the future that will be just as vital. The fact that the projects that define our generation could completely change how we fuel our vehicles and alter our global economic footprint seems to me the greatest opportunity lost of not only this administration but ANY administration.

So much for "Yes we can."