Make America Beautiful Again

What is the value of a muckraker? That used to be the job of cigar smoking, hard drinking, grizzled journalists. George Bernard Shaw once said of the American public, “Democracy is a device that ensures people get what they deserve”. H.L Mencken said “Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.” If that is accurate than we have quite a journey ahead of us the next four years. Perhaps if we had more muckrakers than sycophants the last twenty five years we would not be saying, as Ollie said to Laurel, “here’s another fine mess you’ve gotten me into”. There are so many issues to deal with that society seems to have put blinders on. We can only see the immediate problem, one issue at a time, from one point of view. Multiple issues and multiple viewpoints are too complicated to deal with so we live with blinders.

The simple symbolic apogee of our lost ways is the garbage on our local and national roads. We cannot get our act together to stop a simple societal problem. This is not a new problem to America. Some of us are old enough to remember slogans like Keep America Beautiful and the PSA commercial that featured Iron Eyes Cody, an Italian American playing an Indian, who sheds tears as he observes the 1971 American landscape of garbage and pollution. These progressive initiatives came out of the private sector and were brought to the country’s consciousness by a deliberate well planned public education program.

Keep America Beautiful is a non-profit that was founded in 1953 by corporate and civic leaders alarmed at the growing litter and cleanliness issues in American society. The organization is still doing amazing projects, not done by local, federal or state budgets, bringing communities and individuals together to help clean up rivers, roads and shoreline. Last year they helped beautify 66,000 miles of roads around the country. They have also expanded their mission over the fifty years to include recycling, planting and tree regeneration. Hopefully their funding will not be clear cut by the current administration. The work they do helps to mitigate the gaps of a slow moving bureaucracy.

This all became evident this past week as the stealie face truck was moving along 287 southbound from Boonton NJ to Springfield NJ. The roadside of the interstate highway system is one continuous row of litter, broken only by bridges, from wherever you enter to whatever exit you choose. The exit ramps seem to be even more popular for flying refuse. KAB can organize local cleanups but the highway cleanups are significantly more dangerous and should be handled by the county or state Department of Transportation. Local roads are served only by local townships. County roads are managed by county departments. But who is responsible for the ramps from local to federal? This strict division of responsibilities allows for relaxed enforcement. Angry citizens numerous phone calls could reveal some unknown mess but focused and organized clean highway programs should be the norm and are not.

One can make societal judgments simply based on this one basic issue. Do we care enough about garbage to send a societal message that it is not tolerated? Apparently not. The facts on the ground do not lie. There are many among us who do not seem to care about littering the roadside from their moving vehicle. There are many among us who do not want to be bothered by the shit on the road. They barely notice the refuse until you point it out to them. There are many among us who recognize the problem but are unwilling to do anything about it. Government seems not to care about the problem since the garbage continues to pile up more and more. The citizens recognize that the government is not significantly doing anything about the issue. Well intentioned people, who work in government and want to make a difference, are constrained by a system that moves slowly. We have witnessed all this for the last twenty years and this has increased the malaise and distrust that we see on so many levels between citizenry and the bureaucracy.

The New Jersey Department of Transportation has information on line for one to report litter on the highways. They also have a telephone number and a real person to take live reports. That number is 609 963 1892. Please remember to note the exact milepost of any unsightly litter or refuse. Remember they only handle state and national roads like I-78 or US 22. The state representative was helpful but he has to work with specific reporting guidelines. You can’t say the road litter was scattered for over forty miles. You have to be specific. The state cannot keep up with the scope of the problem so they are just fixing the reported garbage dumps. Please take a moment to project that approach to larger issues like our education system.

The picture above of the Route 24/78 exit on 287 is just a small area, less that a tenth of a mile, that represents the broken landscape. If we are unable to maintain a small shelf of land, if we are unable to educate a significant amount of our children in math and english, if we are unable to inculcate our immigrants and citizens with common values of respect for environment and each other, if we are willing to live with the chaos and disorder, than we are living proof of the infamous words of Shaw and Mencken.

Those who read this column know that this writer has driven over 1.5 million miles, which is like living three years in your car, driving the roads in NJ. This week was the breaking point. The NJDOT will be getting more calls from the Wake and Bake truck. Sometimes you have to be a muckraker to get a better Democracy.

Peace to Everyone

Check out my X account @jondoobie for responses to a promoted tweet this week about this subject. Oy Vey!

Bakery of the Week: Magpie Bakery. Riverside Square, Riverside NJ- What a great small batch bakery. Woman owned-Australian.. Great Coffee too. Great pies!! Recommend the Lemon Meringue…. Five Star…..

Saturday bakery run: Livingston Ave, Hawthorne NJ. Baking by Grace. specializing in cakes and cupcakes; Mr Cupcake; Il Dulce Pastry Shop, an old school bakery with an old school baker. The semolina bread, warm out of the oven, was superb.

Hike of the Week: High Mountain Park Preserve….Franklin Lakes. yeah Hal….

Music of the Week : Counting Crows Omaha