The Politics of Internal Improvements

Abraham Lincoln had a dedication to "internal improvements" and economic development that our current political class neither appreciates or has much of a first hand understanding of.  When Lincoln spoke of his commitment "to the ideal that all men should receive a full, good, and ever increasing reward for their labors so they might have the opportunity to rise in life" he was thinking of the "improvements" to the infrastructure that would enable thousands of farming families to emerge from the kind of poverty in which the Lincoln family had been trapped.  Name one politician today that shares Lincoln's view and experiences with public infrastructure?

From Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin:

"Lincoln likened his politics to an "old womans dance" - "Short & Sheet."  He stood for three simple ideas; a national bank, a protective tariff, and a system for internal improvements.  A state legislator could do little to promote a national bank or raise tariffs, but internal improvements, which then usually meant the improvements of roads, rivers, harbors, and railways, were largely a local matter.  Many Whigs, Steward and Bates among them, spoke of improving waterways, but Lincoln had actually worked on a flatboat to bring meat and grain down the Mississippi to New Orleans; he had a flatboatman's knowledge of the hazards posed by debris and logs while navigating the Sangamon River.  Nor would he ever forget the thrill of receiving his first dollar for transporting two gentlemen on his flatboat from the riverbank to their steamer, which was anchored "in the middle of the river."  The experience of earning two half dollars in a single day made the world seem "wider and fairer," giving him confidence in the future."