At the outset of World War II in Europe, the Autobahn proved to be a key asset to Germany.

Commander of Allied Forces in Europe, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, had observed the German Autobahn Network of Freeways. Republican Ike won the White House in November 1952. The vision of the Auto Bahn was still strong in his mind. As president, he put an emphasis on this kind of broader road building. On June 29, 1956, President Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act. It should be noted that Ike was no friend of America’s wealthy, as evidenced by his 90 percent top bracket tax rate that paved the way for America’s progress.

INFRASTRUCTURE NEGLECT: In November, 2011, Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, blocked President Obama’s $6 billion infrastructure plan, one piece of his $447 billion jobs bill, to be paid by a .07 percent surtax on millionaires.

At his State of the Union address in January 2018, President Trump introduced his $. 1.5 trillion infrastructure bill, proven to be yet another Trump fairy tale.

After our state’s 8-cent per gallon gasoline tax hike in January 2017, where is our town’s slice of the pie? Our city streets are a perpetual mess, laden with faulty patch work and many areas in need of quality work and refurbishing.

THE RICH GET RICHER: From 1981 through 1988, Ronald Reagan incrementally reduced the top tax rate from 70 percent to 28 percent, arguably the beginning of deficit spending. George W. Bush cut tax rates of the rich and famous, over a 10-year period. After only two years in the White House, Donald Trump added $2 trillion to the national debt. In December 2017, he awarded $1.5 trillion over 10 years to millionaires and billionaires, including a 40 percent capital gains tax cut for corporate America, slated for investments and employee pay hikes. Instead, lavish billions were spent on buying back company stock, boosting share prices to artificially increase a company’s earnings per share, as the rich got richer.

INFLATION: Cost for a 30-day supply of blood thinner (Eliquis) at a local supermarket pharmacy, $1,000, ($11 at the VA). A quart of soup to go at a local popular eatery, $18.81. Is anyone paying attention to this calculated demise of the middle class?

SUMMARY: Billionaire Trump recently promised that under his watch America will never be a socialist country. Socialism! A conservative fabricated dirty word, intended by our founding fathers to achieve liberty and justice for all, as promised in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Conversely, fascism is described as a regime that exalts nation above the individual, headed by a dictatorial leader employing severe economic and social regimentation and forcible suppression of opposition. Sound familiar?

One can’t make this stuff up, folks. Still, Donald Trump’s job approval rating has recently risen from 37 percent to 44 percent. His fantasy wall on the southern border the apparent driving force.

May God help us all as the blind lead the blind in hopelessly divided America.