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CUSLI Advisory Board Member Jack Lesenberry discusses the border on Michigan Public Radio
May 20, 2008

Border Shenanigans
Michigan Public Radio
May 19, 2008
Jack Lessenberry's Essays and Interviews

The other day a lady said to me. "You know, everybody says you are so liberal, but I think all you are doing is expressing common sense." I wanted to kiss her, but seeing the trouble Barack Obama got in by calling a reporter "sweetie," I restrained myself. But that is exactly how I regard my own philosophy. Once, when asked what his ideology was, Franklin D. Roosevelt said "I try something, and if it doesn't work, I try something else." That is why he was a great President. Those of us not wearing ideological blinders now know that socialism doesn't seem to work very well if you want a thriving, innovative economy. On the other hand, laissez-faire capitalism just won't do if you need to worry about air traffic control, smallpox prevention, or relationships with other nations.

Which brings us to our nation's economically most important border crossing, the bridge over the Detroit River. Here's an example of how screwed up our system is. Last time I flew somewhere, the feds managed to save western civilization by confiscating the plastic scissors I use to cut articles out of the paper. Well, the cost of freedom is eternal vigilance. However, we then flew over the Ambassador Bridge, which was clogged with big heavy trucks. Millions in trade flow across the bridge every day. This is stuff that can't go through the tunnel, but which is vital to the economies of both Michigan and Ontario. If that bridge were to collapse or fail we would be plunged into catastrophe. Yet nobody from either U.S. or Canadian security is guarding the Ambassador Bridge. That's because it is private property, owned by a shadowy and reclusive 80-year-old Grosse Pointer named Matty Moroun.

Terrorists conceivably could put a bomb on a barge or a small boat and do major damage to our joint economies. The bridge itself turns 80 next year. Technologically, it is far out of date. But for years, Moroun's mouthpiece, Dan Stamper, the bridge company's president, maintained that a new bridge wasn't needed. Then a couple of years ago, a joint- U.S. Canada group called DRIC, for Detroit River International Crossing, said it intended to build a new bridge a mile or so downstream. That proposal was backed by all the governments involved and the auto industry. With that, Matty Moroun suddenly shifted gears and announced he would build a new bridge after all -- right next to the old one. No need to even consider any other proposals. Just trust me. Well, I do trust him. That is, to charge all the traffic will bear. And I trust you to have enough common sense to sort this out. Does it make more sense to have a new fully regulated multinational bridge some distance downstream -- or should the guy who owns the old one build a second bridge right next to it?

There is a reason the president and vice-president don't fly on the same plane. When you figure out what it is, you'll have the answer

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