Well, Ezra, you're part of USMA. So, what **are** you doing along those
lines?
I think a few points need to be made to put things in perspective:
1. Metrication in Australia was led by the government, at least to the
extent of declaring it a priority and setting some broad date parameters.
2. USMA is mostly a volunteer organization and not a registered lobbying
group. USMA's leadership does indeed do some strategic whispering in
ears, but the brunt of the work is done and should be done by its members.
3. If the federal government pours money into improving infrastructure,
it will be into and via existing programs for the most part. What you
are asking for is for revision of those programs, metrication of state
highway departments as a case in point. Now, that certainly could be a
"string" attached to those proffered funds and perhaps that's a good way
to go. But currently the thinking in government is about our dilapidated
infrastructure and how to solve those problems, not about our doofus
units and how to replace them by metrication. You're going to have to
make the pitch that doing these projects in metric units will save money
and thus allow more to be done. If you present it as a way to solve our
metrication problem, it most likely will get ignored. The cold reality
is that most people in government do not see our lack of metrication as
a problem, at least not one rising to the "must fix" stage when compared
to the other problems we have.
I look forward to hearing about your correspondence with officials,
representatives in government, and the media along these lines.
Jim
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
After hearing part of Obama's Saturday radio address where talked about the
massive infrastructure rebuilding he will put in place, I'm wondering what USMA
is doing to push for launching a metrication program for the USA along the
lines followed in Australia (and likely with consultation from Australian
experts like Pat Naughtin) so that the infrastructure work can be done in
metric and integrated into that metrication work.
Ezra
--
James R. Frysinger
632 Stony Point Mountain Road
Doyle, TN 38559-3030
(H) 931.657.3107
(C) 931.212.0267
