As some of you may have figured out by now: I’m not a big fan of excessive government spending. I think the private sector does a better job than the government in most situations. I hope someday we can turn over many of the services we associate with government to the free market. But for the time being, there are some services that need the government’s fullest attention.

While we all have our own salient issues, possibly one of the most important government expenditures is our transportation infrastructure. Not only is our entire private economy reliant on our transportation system, but also the ability of our government to fund other public programs. Therefore, it should be the government’s number one priority to repair fixable roads or upgrade them where needed.

Basically, I’m angry at all the potholes. Seriously, have you driven north on Old 63 lately? It’s like a terrible game of Mario cart where hitting a hole costs you 100 bucks, everyone is Donkey Kong and using mushrooms lands you in jail.

I understand the severity of these potholes is due to the recent blizzards and freezing temperatures, but we have had plenty of time to fix them. Just today, one day after the last snow, I saw two guys on Green Meadows filling potholes.

However, the conditions of Columbia roads have been absolutely terrible every year I have spent in Columbia. Driving on the abysmal roads and parking in AV-14 (I’m looking at you Parking and Transportation Services) has done a fair amount of damage to my car, causing me to buy a new set of tires.

I can only imagine how much damage has been caused to the thousands of trucks, cars, and semi’s driven on Columbia’s roads every day. I’m sure the amount of damage in dollars dwarfs the cost of a truck full of hot melting gravel and tar.

OK, the roads in Columbia aren’t bad everywhere and I know the city/state does build new roads and upgrade old ones. But we will continue to face budget shortcomings in the future, and maintenance funding has been decreased steadily the last three years. The Columbia Public Works-General Fund Operations, the budget containing money for engineering, repairing and regulating roads, had a 6.2 percent cut.

While cracking down on pet breeders, building biking lanes and making new signs for Rock Quarry Park are critical to our standard of living, we cannot allow our government to regress on infrastructure. Until we are ready to hand over the transportation system to private ownership, we cannot slack on its upkeep. One pothole might only seem like a nuisance, but its cumulative effect on our society is more expensive than just fixing it immediately.

So if a pothole can be this much of a vexation on our society, we can apply the idea to other problems with our transportation system. In order to truly compete with other nations and rejuvenate the nation’s economy, we must allow ourselves to become more conducive for trade and commerce. Yes, we need to rebuild the American infrastructure, but in the meantime, can we just fix these damn potholes?