Q: Why should I give $200 more to the government?*

*Comment on an Indianapolis Star article about the lobbying effort against regional transit.

A: Because I can’t build my own personal regional transit system.

Working to get a 21st century public transit system in Indianapolis is a little like transporting water with your hands: it’s important stuff, but at times the task feels futile, and people look at you like you’re nuts.

That’s why it was so infuriating to see the announcement in the March 7 Indianapolis Star that the Koch brothers’ Americans for Prosperity (At the Expense of your Neighbors) will be launching a media campaign in Indiana. One of their stated targets is the “boondoggle” of regional transit in Central Indiana.

Why are we, who are so opposed to non-Hoosier federal bureaucrats telling us how to spend our money, so ready to welcome non-Hoosier lobbyists telling us how to spend our money? Isn’t transit bill HB1011 what freedom is all about? Local autonomy? Deciding for ourselves how to spend our resources?

We need to demonstrate to the rest of the state, and to all those outside interests who would spend money here, that we care about regional connectivity for everyone. Before this is over, we have to prove that a majority of Central Indiana taxpayers want to spend some of their money, pooled with others’ (which is the only way this works), to improve the system that links us to work, play, and each other.