The New York Times reported on two enormous construction projects of dubious merit:

[The first bridge] would connect [Ketchikan, population 7845] to an island that has about 50 residents and the area’s airport, which offers six flights a day (a few more in summer). It could cost about $200 million.

The other bridge would span an inlet for nearly two miles to tie Anchorage to a port that has a single regular tenant and almost no homes or businesses. It would cost up to $2 billion.

The first bridge replaces a five minute ferry ride with a drive that most likely will take even longer.

And the representative from Alaska behind these pointless construction projects is hardly ashamed of this. Quite the contrary: He’s proud of his achievement.

“I stuffed it like a turkey.”

United States politics is not about trying to make the world a better place. It’s about doing whatever it takes to get re-elected.