Let's build infrastructure for the future, not just today

[Commentary] What goals are appropriate to government and what decisions should be left to the private sector? This bedrock question underlies most disputes in modern American politics, even when the issue is framed in scientific, economic or moral terms. However, one role that almost everyone agrees belongs to government is the planning and funding of large-scale infrastructure. Broadband and wireless networks, in addition to the power grid, must be resistant and resilient to cyberattack.

[David M. Lodge is the Francis J. DiSalvo Director of Cornell University's Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future and a professor in Cornell's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.]