Road Discrimination

One of the most common comebacks statists have when talking to anarchists is to ask who will build the roads. The thought being that only a violent gang could possibly manage to build and maintain transportation infrastructure. Whenever the idea of privatizing road construction or allowing local communities to handle the task statists say that such systems would mean the rich would enjoy good roads while the poor would have shitty roads. Apparently they believe that the state provides quality infrastructure to all. In other words statists have never looked at Minneapolis:

Minneapolis City Hall has one of two problems: Either it intentionally fixes the potholes of rich, white people faster than the potholes of poor, minority people, or the data-collection system it uses to perform basic functions is asleep on the job.

The background: Last week, the Star Tribune relied upon city data to conclude that City Hall responds more quickly to pothole complaints in wealthier, whiter areas of the city. The Department of Public Works rejects any claim of bias, and instead has tried to downplay the discrepancy as representing “strictly a paperwork process” (“Minneapolis fixes potholes citywide,” April 8).

It’s funny watching the state squirm when somebody actually looks at what it does. I just wish the Department of Public Works would be honest and explain why they give preference to wealthier neighborhoods. Wealthier people tend to make larger campaign contributions to politicians. That being the case the politicians are going to favor the wealthy. The wealthy purchased their government fair and square but the government doesn’t want to admit it because it wants to maintain the facade that it represents all people equally.

4 thoughts on “Road Discrimination”

  1. Wealthy people also pay a larger portion of the taxes within a city. While demanding less of the ‘social safety’ net resources.

    Of course that isn’t socially acceptable to cite as a reason.

    1. That can go either way. While many wealthy people do pay a lot more taxes there are also a lot of wealthy people who do a commendable job at avoiding taxes.

  2. It could also have to do that white affluent neighborhoods have better access to technology and thus probably put in a lot more reports than in poorer neighborhoods. They are also probably more likely to call up and needlessly bitch if it isn’t fixed immediately.

  3. Chris even if the more wealthy individuals do not pay all of their taxes they are still paying a much higher share of the overall tax income for the government in question be it city county state or federal.

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