“Cash-strapped states look to sell roads, parks.” Now there’s a title that makes you sit up and take notice… and then say “huh?”

But according to the msnbc.com article, 44 out of our 50 states are considering doing just that. Among that number are Minnesota, Massachussetts, New York and Illinois.

That last state might not come as much of a surprise considering its less-than stellar gubernatorial record, but you can’t lay the entire blame at Blagojevich’s feet. Oh, I’m sure he’s part of the problem, but this predicament has deeper roots than just two terms. Not to mention the fact that the apparent criminal only has authority over one state; and clearly there are at least 43 other states in need of “restructuring.”

But while it’s always fun - and sometimes necessary - to play the blame game, right now we should be focusing on the solution. So I’d give the problem-ridden 44 states kudos for thinking of something other than the federal government bailing them out, except that this new idea is almost as bad.

After all, what happens if they sell roads to private bidders? The only way those private bidders will be able to make any kind of profit off of their infrastructure purchases is to charge drivers who frequent them.

And that means more tolls to pay. I don’t like the idea because I don’t like spending money on tolls, but my objection goes deeper than that. As a citizen of a particular state and of the United States as a whole, I’ve been contributing taxes towards the supposed maintenance of roads ever since I got my first job.

In other words, I’ve made an investment in the U.S. infrastructure. It is my legal responsibility to help maintain it through monetary donations; they exist because of your and my tax dollars.

I.e. Those roads are ours. And I for one, don’t care all that much about something I own being sold off to pay for other people’s bad mistakes. Especially when the end results consist of me paying even more. It just doesn’t seem quite fair now, does it?

Nothing but government talk and media speculation has happened so far concerning these disturbing ideas, but as we’ve seen through 2008, anything really can happen. So I’m not holding my breath one way or the other.