If you build it...

The word of the day is "infrastructure," and somehow just defining the word has become the argument of the day in politics.

Dictionaries were invented partly to avoid such controversy by providing accepted definitions for words, and the farther back the word could be found in past books, poems, and newspapers, the stronger the basis for the definition.

Here's a typical dictionary definition: the system of public works of a country, state, or region. Also, the resources (such as personnel, buildings, or equipment) required for an activity.

That definition seems a bit limited, since many businesses depend much more on software and computer hardware systems than on buildings or even people. But "system" likely includes all sorts of unlisted items and contributing subsystems.

The interstate highway system, which was born in 1956 and eventually produced over 45,000 miles of new highways that fundamentally changed the country, began as a bill titled, The National Interstate and Defense Highways Act. Even back then, getting the key word -- defense -- in the title of the bill was important.

I dimly recall I-80 finally opening from Davenport to Des Moines when I was a sophomore in high school, and the basic system took over 14 years to construct and billions of dollars.

It's another reminder that the country can do big things, and that change can come rather quickly, in historical terms. I can be as impatient as the next guy, but I have to admit that the sheer volume and impact of technological systems, not to mention infrastructure systems, that I have experienced over seven decades is breathtaking.

I have no idea how to even measure the potential benefit of the current effort to create a new push for American infrastructure (and there will always be costs and downsides of such huge programs). But the country's last giant government infrastructure program is now over 50 years old. 

I get it: no matter the disagreement, it all becomes tribal these days. And tribes often settle for disagreements over definitions rather than addressing common needs and challenges.

But if Americans end up seeing real benefits from whatever Congress creates, all will be forgotten. And then we can get back to arguing over the need to arm ourselves because we fear our government and our fellow citizens. Oh, and bathrooms. And British royalty.

You know. Important stuff.