People don’t think about the future that far out anymore. We would have written “leaders” to start that sentence, but everyone else is guilty of it, too.

The pioneers used to think a century out. They built public buildings — from courthouses to libraries to capitols — that were meant to be gifts to their descendants. And for generations Americans were focused on building a great nation, each generation leaving it a better place than the previous, each generation improving the infrastructure, each generation passing on a legacy.

Today, we tend to think of next quarterly statements, a proposal’s impact on next week, month or year, when’s the next video game coming out and what’s on TV tonight. Nowhere does anyone propose visions of 10, 20, 50 or 100 years from now, yet so many things have long-term effects.

Whether it is a new sidewalk that improves someone’s health so they live longer (perhaps without the user even realizing it) or a new program that helps a student of a low- to middle-income family go to college (with less debt anyway), these are things that make a real difference in the lives of real people.

What are we getting rid of, and what are we keeping? Is this the America our nation-building pioneers wanted?

The next time you read about a local, state or federal proposal in this or any newspaper or website, consider the long-term effects. Consider what the result will be in a century. What are we giving to our grandkids?