Dump Trump.
Donald Trump revealed himself as a politician just like all the usual suspects, pledging allegiance to the Republican party. It wouldn’t have mattered had it been the other party. Want my support? Pledge allegiance to the Republic for which the flag stands, not the Republic-rats or Demagogglars doing diatribes against each other and the other side’s others.
This guy known as “The Donald” has the same thing holding him back as the rest of the posturers congregating at what I call Politico Junction. What they really pledge allegiance to is the television coverage they crave.
The only thing more dangerous than getting between a television camera and Donald Trump would be electing him president. Then his bombastic drivel and self-aggrandizing preen-fest would become even more ubiquitous.
Yet I’m unworried. His hair hides a hand grenade head that will blow itself off when he pulls the pin on his mouth and lets his bombast fly in the wrong direction at an inopportune time. It’s inevitable.
Consequently let’s move on to important things. That brings us to the intersection of past and future in Carson City, which is called the here and now.
Now provides a nexus at this locale that was on display recently — the relative now — but was hidden in plain sight due to transport issues of the past and future. They came in band-aid form at Carson City’s Board of Supervisors.
These days transport involves more pathways than just roads. Roads represent the past and present; computers and the worldwide web represent the present and future. Three separate money items touched on such topics Thursday.
There was $575,000 for computer hardware/software in city government that was approved in a purchase order involving suppliers. There was almost $320,000 approved as the low bid to work on fiber optics and connectivity — the pipes or roadways for future data — to upgrade city government’s communications linkage. And there was a $125,000 nod to the routine need for crack sealant to smooth streets.
The last item was another in the city’s halting attempts to repair roads and streets in a world that has changed due to insufficient gasoline tax revenues. It’s an important matter, but one providing hints the age of physical mobility being paramount is closer to rear view mirror status, though not out of sight, than we might think. These band-aids are needed but mostly continue just being band-aids.
The amounts for computer equipment and fiber optics connectivity upgrade, however, also were in the band-aid category as they reached the board last week. But these band-aids deal with future scrapes rather than those slowly receding into the past. Particularly the fiber optics issue. Supervisor Bard Bonkowski knows that, and sought to start a larger conversation on possible public-private partnering to provide connectivity for industry and business.
The day when your physical mobility is for joy and your connectivity mobility is for both joy and business is at hand for many of us, but more importantly looms in everybody’s future. So Bonkowski’s urging and the board’s interest in fiber optics both represent a good sign the necessary conversation will include and perhaps focus on trails of tomorrow as well as roads of yesterday.
This is a far more important topic than the Trumpster, his dumpster trashing of anyone questioning his credibility, or even the entire national obsession with national politics is likely to bring us.
John Barrette covers Carson City government and business. He can be reached at jbarrette@nevadaappeal.com.
