Change We Certainly Can't Afford

According to US News and World Report, the town of Edwardsville, AL wants a $375 million stimulus package:

At first glance, the town of Edwardsville, Ala., with a population of 194 people, might raise a few eyebrows with its bid to receive $375 million from the economic stimulus package being assembled by Barack Obama and lawmakers in Congress.

The tiny town, located near the Georgia border and 26 miles from the nearest "big city" of Anniston (population: 24,276), added 33 proposals—about two thirds of them related to "green" energy—to the list of "ready- to- go" projects assembled by the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Total sum: $375,076,200.

That comes out to nearly $2 million per Edwardsville resident, although E. D. Phillips, the town's representative to the U.S. Conference of Mayors, says the projects would affect a wider region that comprises about 80,000 people. That number includes residents of nearby rural areas that aren't already incorporated into towns, along with the residents of Talladega Springs (population: 124), which partnered with Edwardsville and local municipal utilities on the projects.

Some of items for which Edwardsville wants the money include "a renewable energy museum, scenic railroad, and vineyards."

"This is certainly the Alabama version of the Bridge to Nowhere," stated LPA Chair Stephen Gordon. "Hopefully, Americans and Alabamians will be just as outraged over a Museum in Nowhere as they were about the Bridge to Nowhere."

Like most Americans, Libertarians oppose government bailouts and stimulus packages.

"All efforts by government to redistribute wealth, or to control or manage trade, are improper in a free society," reads a portion of the Libertarian Party platform.

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