主题：美国精英对美国选票制度的批判。 -- dolong

候机中，太无聊了……

凑合翻一下，大家将就看。

如果你的房顶或者厨房或者地下室漏水了，你可能会想，最好还是尽快解决、免得事情更糟糕成本更高。

如果，我们在对待错综复杂的联系在一起的美国水系统时也有这样的态度就好了。我们大多数人把干净的、随时可用的水当成是想当然的事情。但事实上，国家的水系统情况令人遗憾——虽然人口在增长、需求在增加，它却在恶化。

老化的、被腐蚀的管道每不一会儿就不定地点的喷发一下。损坏的下水道系统污染了水路和饮用水。许多本地系统太古老而又不够用——某些情况下是那么朽的相当厉害——以至于大雨就可以颠覆它们。

Charles Duhigg 去年三月在时代上报道过“几十年来，这些系统——有些建立于内战时期——已经被习惯于为水供应和下水道清理不承担任何支出的政客和居民忽视了。因此，每年都有几十万起街道和房屋损害、导致危险的工业污染渗入饮用水供应。”

当然，没有任何道理情况应该是这样的。如果这是一个一流的社会，我们会重建水系统、让全世界都嫉妒它，这会给我们在经济上讨价还价时提供信心。但这些需要成熟、眼光、努力和奉献，而目前，令人沮丧的，它们都不足。

我们甚至不能在哈德逊河下建立一条从新泽西到纽约的隧道。

改善水系统——以及如果做得好的话普遍的说整个基础设施——会沿着改善这个国家令人失望的经济表现方向走出一大步根据美国Conference of Mayors（实在不知道这是什么机构）,向改进水和下水道系统投入的每一美元将长期来看产生大概六美元多的GDP。如果国家认真的修理、更新water mains（不知道是啥，大概是水系统主要部分？）, crumbling pipes（还是不知道具体是什么）,水处理工厂、大坝、河堤，将产生几十万个工作岗位。

如果我们能停止那些没头没脑的战争、把浪费的几亿元的一部分放在国家的最广义的基础建设、提高它们倒21世纪标准上，可以增加几百万个就业岗位。

需求是巨大的。根据美国Society of Civil Engineers（不晓得什么机构）最近给出基础建设打分D-来看，国家的水系统网络正好处在最差的时候。 Jeffrey Griffiths是federal government’s National Drinking Water Advisory Council（不知道怎么翻译合适）,他告诉时代：“我们倚赖的水系统是我们的曾祖父辈（可能是……反正是很古老的前辈就是了）建设的 ，没人希望为我们忽略它们的几十年付钱。许多证据说明人民在生病。只是因为看不到，没人真的明白事情究竟到了多快的程度。

What has always struck me about this issue is that there is a desperate need to improve the nation’s infrastructure and a desperate need for the jobs and enhanced economic activity that would come from sustained, long-term infrastructure investment. But somehow the leadership and the will to move forward on the scale that is needed are missing.

A survey to be released this week by the ITT Corporation, which makes and sells water infrastructure equipment, shows that nearly 70 percent of respondents agreed with the statement “I generally take my access to clean water for granted.” But a similar percentage said they would be willing to pay a modest additional amount every month to upgrade their water system and ensure their long-term access to clean water.

If public officials would provide honest leadership on this and other infrastructure issues, making a sound case for the investments that are needed and the benefits that would accrue from rebuilding America’s infrastructure, the public would be likely to sign on.

We can start getting our act together now, or we can pay dearly later. The Obama administration has provided federal support for some water and other infrastructure improvements but nothing close to the kind of effort needed to bring America’s infrastructure into even reasonable shape.

The horror stories abound: the drowning of New Orleans when the levees failed in 2005, the 2007 explosion of an ancient steam pipe in Manhattan that killed one person and injured more than 30, the gas pipeline explosion and fire last month in San Bruno, Calif., that killed seven and injured more than 50. There are endless other examples, tragic, costly and unnecessary.

The sorry state of America’s infrastructure is a hard-core reflection of what is really going on in this increasingly hapless society, whether we choose to acknowledge it or not.