No to bridges to nowhere, yes to nuclear, a faster Internet, and R & D One of Donald Trump’s signature policy proposals has been a massive infrastructure investment plan. This puts conservatives in a bind. After all, didn’t we denounce the Obama administration’s stimulus plan as a massive boondoggle that didn’t do anything to boost the economy but wasted resources? At the same time, we should recognize that there is ample conservative warrant for believing that the government should ensure that the United States has the world’s best infrastructure. Most free-market economists agree that infrastructure is one of the few worthwhile jobs that government can do. What’s more, as entrepreneur and Manhattan Institute fellow Jim Manzi pointed out in “The New American System,” in the Spring 2014 issue of National Affairs, government concern for infrastructure was actually a major booster of American prosperity in the 19th century, usually thought of as the halcyon days of small government. Such luminaries as Alexander Hamilton famously favored government public works, as did (less famously) Abraham Lincoln, who expanded Henry Clay’s agenda of investment in telegraphs and railroads. This communication and transportation network provided the backbone for America’s stunning late-19th-century growth, which made it the world’s richest nation well before it became a global power after World War I.