It is true that two cliches central to our political language today â âresilienceâ and, indeed, âinfrastructureâ â have often covered up a lack of real public policy justifications. But the fact is that Bidenâs plan is in one sense not ambitious enough: it does not address the countryâs decaying civic infrastructure. Infrastructure is about connecting people; it enables us to reach others and be reached by them. Roads, but also the post office, are paradigmatic examples. The culture war rhetoric of Republicans has made it sound as if the main problem of those âleft behindâ is the condescension of supposedly liberal-cosmopolitan-bicoastal elites who have nothing else to do than sneering at âreal Americansâ. But plenty of people are left behind because itâs hard to reach them, and hard for them to reach out: deregulation made airplane tickets to remote parts of the country horrendously expensive; buses and trains, if they exist at all, are infrequent and shoddy. People have been cut off, while many of their local resources have been cut down, as institutions like community savings banks, which draw on and provide local knowledge, keep disappearing.