A Rose by Any Other Name

Politicians love themselves.  They love to see themselves on TV, to see their name in print, and on the news.  They will do just about anything for 15 minutes of fame.  Just spell their name right!

As it turns out, they will also do anything to get their names on something more permanent.  Like a building.  Or a bridge.  Or even a library.

This is the ultimate high for them.  To be immortalized. To be honored. And to do it all with other people's money!

Perhaps the worst example is Robert Byrd of West Virginia.  He has plastered his name on just about every federally funded object in the state.  There are something like 1,342 building, roads or bridges named after him.  OK, I made that number up.  But the real number is a big one.

One of several dozen buildings named after Senator Byrd

Why?  Why do we feel the need to feed the ego's of these people? They did not pay for the building, we, the taxpayers, paid for the building. The politicians do not deserve to have their name on on a building -- they have done nothing to deserve this honor other than force us to pay for it.

So I proposed that we take their names of the stuff that we have paid for and put the names of ordinary citizens on them. 

Wait, not ordinary citizens. Let's name stuff after people that deserve to be immortalized.  Let's name them after those that have given the last full measure of their devotion; our war heroes.   We know the names of hundreds of politicians. Their names are part of the fabric of our lives.  The Eisenhower. Reagan International Airport. The Daley Center.  But know one knows the names of those that gave their lives to defend our country.

I propose that the following changes be made to the names of all Federally funded projects.

1. Politicians are not eligible have things named after them until 75 years after their death. 
2. All projects shall have a name assigned that is selected from a master list of names.
3. The master list shall be composed of people who served our country in a heroic capacity; winners of military decorations such as the Medal of Honor, the Navy cross, the silver star, etc and politicians who have been dead for at least 75 years. 

The names shall be selected in order, and all buildings and other objects not in compliance with this rule shall be re-named. 

In this way, we can stop these bombastic and egotistic people from glorifying themselves with other peoples money and focus instead on those that deserve to be remembered.    Our war heroes. 

I would much rather drive down the Adelbert Ames highway than the Robert F. Byrd Parkway.

Who is Adelbert Ames?   My point exactly.