Simon,
I was about to start a thread on that very topic. After my initial shock and sadness at what happened here (I was only 2-3 miles from the bridge), I started to feel disgust and anger.
This past spring, Minnesota's governor had vetoed a well-crafted transportation and infrastructure bill which had good support from the Democrats and Republicans. Why? Because he was sticking to a no-new-tax pledge, and the bill required a FIVE CENT increase in the gas tax, which has held steady since 1988. So forget about investing in our state's future. It's more important to have a high national profile as the "low tax Republican governor".
Meanwhile in Washington DC the President is pursuing a war which will cost America over $1 trillion dollars, and at the same time he wants to cut taxes (especially for those in higher income brackets). So instead of investing in making our own country great, we spent billions and billions in the sinkhole known as Iraq and won't even raise a tax to help our bridges, schools, sewer systems, and aviation systems, all of which are deteriorating.
No wonder America is starting to crumble.