Best Revenge Against Osama bin Laden: Rebuild Our Transportation and Infrastructure

The best revenge against Osama bin Laden's destructive ideology is to take all that money we would have spent on tracking the bastard down (mission accomplished) and use it to rebuild our crumbling roads, bridges and rail system.

Democrats and Republicans must come together to create a National Infrastructure Bank so that we have a dedicated source of funding for improving our transportation and infrastructure. A recent story in The Economist perhaps puts it best:

"Roads, bridges and railways used to be neutral ground on which the parties could come together to support the country’s growth. But as politics has become more bitter, public works have been neglected. If the gridlock choking Washington finds its way to America’s statehouses too, then the American economy risks grinding to a standstill."

Wasn't that one of bin Laden's goals? That America would spend so much blood and treasure to defeat him that we would neglect investing in our homeland?

We can't let that happen. And thankfully public servants like Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood will do everything in their power to make sure America is as strong at home as we are abroad.

That's why LaHood recently announced where the High Speed Rail funding that Florida shortsightedly rejected is going. Here is an excerpt from the DOT chief's Fast Lane blog:

"This is a big day for the Department of Transportation, for the Obama Administration, and for the American people. We are bringing President Obama's vision of American high-speed rail one step closer to reality with $2.02 billion in targeted investments.

And I am thrilled.

Today we are advancing President Obama's historic high-speed rail blueprint through 22 carefully selected projects that will create jobs, boost manufacturing, and spur development while laying the foundation for our future economic competitiveness. We are providing two billion dollars to 15 states and Amtrak to help build out America's high-speed rail network, enabling people and goods to travel more quickly, safely and energy-efficiently than ever before."

That is the spirit we need so we don't eventually end up looking like this:

But instead look like this: