Posted on 08/26/2021 4:50:52 AM PDT by MtnClimber
It's not their exhaust or the fuel they burn; it's their steering wheels. Drivers get to go wherever they want to go, even if it's not to a "good" place. Trains run on rails and don't need steering wheels. They go where the all-wise planners know you ought to be.
Thus is explained the irrational preference for passenger rail transport that is continually expressed by the American left. Amtrak is a dud. It's trapped in the past — before automobiles opened up the vast American continent. Rail is great for shipping freight, but not people, who need to be fed, take naps, and go to the bathroom. Lumber, sugar beets, soybeans and automobiles are much easier to handle. Amtrak, however, has the right-of-way on the tracks, forcing freight trains to pull into "holes" to get out of the way, thus delaying the completion of their tasks and increasing the cost.
Meanwhile, the reductio ad absurdum of the passenger rail pipe dream is California's HSR (high-speed rail). After years of work and billions of dollars spent, some day in the future, folks wanting to get from Bakersfield to Modesto in a hurry will probably still have to drive. Even some incompetent and corrupt politicians are starting to get cold feet:
Years ago, the Legislature empaneled a group of "experts" to forecast the bottom-line reality of the project. Their finding, back then, was that the operating cost of sending a passenger from the Bay Area to metro Los Angeles via HSR was greater than the retail price of an airline ticket. Since then, HSR has accumulated still more cost overruns.
Yes, passenger rail is still viable in areas of high population density — where riders and destinations are plentiful. But much of America is hinterland, rich in empty vastness.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Mass transit and VAXX passports with approved travel destinations for each individual would be utopia for the left. It would be CONTROL of movement.
Spot on. Cars provide a level of independence and freedom that statists and tyrants (Leftists) abhor. They would like nothing better than to force people to go where THEY want you to go, and track your movements the entire way.
Look no further than China to understand what the left wants.
When I was travelling there frequently, 17 years ago, people could not leave their area without permission. If you lived in a hovel 15 km outside of Fuyong, you were not allowed to hop in a taxi and travel to Hong Kong. Sure, you could petition the local government and if you weren't a smelly peasant, they'd charge you some RMB and off you go.
It was still remnants of the Hukou system. Funny, China is moving away from restrictions, we're moving toward them. The left's dream is to stack us up in Apt buildings in inner cities so as to vote for them forever.
Hence the push for the demise of the ICE and the move to electric. Limited range, few charging station and long refill times. Great way to limit freedom of movement.
It’s not just WHERE we get to go with our autos... it’s (more important?) WHEN. Free from the tyranny of fixed schedules. The Leftazis HATE freedom... they dream of the day when we peasants are reduced to little more than human livestock... sorta like slaves in the Old South.
No better example of this mindset is Bill Gates and the Global Warming (Climate Change on cold days) billionaires... we free folks are destroying HIS planet... and need to corralled, controlled and even culled, if he and his fellow wokeazis decide it’s necessary.
It’s not just WHERE we get to go with our autos... it’s (more important?) WHEN. Free from the tyranny of fixed schedules. The Leftazis HATE freedom... they dream of the day when we peasants are reduced to little more than human livestock... sorta like slaves in the Old South.
No better example of this mindset is Bill Gates and the Global Warming (Climate Change on cold days) billionaires... we free folks are destroying HIS planet... and need to corralled, controlled and even culled, if he and his fellow wokeazis decide it’s necessary.
For the vast majority of drivers, auto accidents are much more dangerous (life threatening) than Covid.
I am surprised the CDC has not tried to ban vehicles!
Scum Democrats literally want to criminalize cars.
What the Nazis did to the Jews, Democrats will do to us.
Looking forward to another cross country drive next month.
Passenger trains are for recreation and leisure. I remember riding on the Santa Fe Chief when I was a kid and enjoying the observation car as we crossed the desert and went through the Sierras. Fond memories.
The headline promises the bad things about cars and then lists the good things about cars. False advertising.
That is what I make of the Left’s obsession with mass transit and the war on fossil fuels.
I personally have nothing against mass transit systems just as I have nothing against vaccines or masks.
What I am virulently opposed to is mandating any of those things as the Left would do by intentionally making it so expensive and restrictive to drive.
We have, and have had, enemies inside the wire.
Ping
Control-Freak BUMP
Well yeah. The whole reason for the government to demonize gas powered cars is that they take people wherever they want to go whenever they want to go there. Tie people to electric charging stations, then cut off the power when you take control.
Not in the west. Union Pacific owns the rail lines and gives Amcrash time windows for each track section. When Amcrash is late, (notice I did not say IF) the window closes and freight has the right-of-way. Once that happens, you can bet the train will be late to every section, and be forced on to a siding to wait for the freight. which continuously delays your arrival time.
It is starting to look like the Amish have had the right idea all along. Horses can take a track/road independent direction of travel.
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