TRAVERSE CITY — Domino’s has a publicity stunt going right now where they pave over potholes in states around the country (although, oddly enough, not Michigan) to prevent damage to their pizzas.

Pretty clever.

Pretty sad, too. We’ve officially reached the point where government at all levels is so pathetically gridlocked and underfunded that even fast food companies are doing a better job of maintaining public services.

I blame libertarianism. At some indeterminate point in the far distant past, Republicans adopted the crackpot libertarian belief that all taxes — no matter how small or how needed — are bad.

So when the GOP is in power, they often cut taxes. Public services, in turn, suffer, to the point now in Michigan where it’s entirely plausible that you and your Ford or GM could be swallowed whole by a pothole, never to be seen again.

Or, in the case of poor Flint, your entire city could be poisoned, all because government was trying to save a couple of bucks on chemicals.

Democrats are no better. Instead of being brave little boys and girls when they’re in power, they, too, prefer to cut taxes, if possible. They seldom, if ever, do the courageous thing and (gasp) raise taxes because they’re afraid they’ll be labeled as spendthrifts by Republitarians (copyright pending on the name) and voted out of power. (It’s all about them, people. Not us. Remember that.)

This is why our schools are a wreck, college costs are soaring, and our roads, bridges, water systems and parks are crumbling. In short, America has become like a wealthy, old miser who dresses in rags, won’t pay to see the doctor and dies alone in his decaying old mansion, surrounded by bales of money.

Since Domino’s is a Michigan company, you would think state lawmakers would be shamed into action. But they are beyond shame at this point.

“Wait a second,” you’re saying, especially if you lean Republitarian. “Didn’t the Legislature just approve $300 million in surplus funds to fix roads in metro Detroit?”

Yes, they did. But it’s a drop in a very large bucket. As Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel told the Free Press: “I’ve got 803 lane miles to fix right now.” The $7.7 million he’s getting from the surplus will rebuild about 4.5 miles of that. Woo-hoo!

The truth is Michigan is hopelessly behind in infrastructure spending. According to a ClickOn Detroit report earlier this year: “In investment per lane mile, Michigan is 33rd. Investment per vehicle-mile traveled. We’re 47th. And per capita, we’re dead last in the country.”

What that means is we’re ultimately to blame. You and me. (Well, mostly you. I’m willing to pay higher taxes for better public amenities.)

We love to gripe about the roads. A recent AAA survey said 90 percent of us rate our roads and bridges as fair or poor. But it also indicated we aren’t willing to pay more to fix them.

So we get what we get.

But let’s look on the bright side. If you don’t want to pay more in taxes but want your street fixed, you can always buy a pizza and ask the delivery guy to put in a good word for you with Domino’s.

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Andrew Heller, an award-winning newspaper columnist, appears weekly in the Daily Press. He graduated from Escanaba Area High School in 1979. Follow him at andrewheller.com and on Facebook and Twitter. Write to him via email at andrewhellercolumn@gmail.com.