Urinetown, 2017

Urinetown: The Musical is a satirical comedy musical that premiered in 2001, with music by Mark Hollmann, lyrics by Hollmann and Greg Kotis, and book by Kotis. It satirizes the legal system, capitalism, social irresponsibility, populism, bureaucracy, corporate mismanagement, and municipal politics.

Who cares? And why? Well, it’s an entertaining show. And after the immigration trainwreck that keeps barreling along and the ACA remodel that is a house of cards, get ready for a workplan for our public infrastructure that will evoke yet another apocalyptic analogy — Urinetown.

We do need new public infrastructure. From bridges, to water systems to dams — to roads in California that I am starting to find frightening to ride on with my motorcycle. There is much to do on those worn WPA projects — more than 70 years old. That is long ago, but don’t that let you forget that the Works Progress Administration was one of the largest and best public infrastructure efforts — publicly funded by our taxes, publicly owned by all.

One can only assume that the Ayn Rand reading Paul Ryan will propose some private investment solution for proposed public projects. A true tragedy of the commons here we come. But the tragedy will not be that we do not care — it will be that we have ceded ownership for what we all need and use — water, roads, electricity — and yes access to sewage disposal — even at a very personal level, on a daily basis.

So Urinetown the Musical might not be so farcical, fictional or funny in 2017. It could be our reality.