Honolulu's Future Is Too Serious A Matter To Be Left To Transportation 'Experts'

French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau is credited with the famous remark, "La guerre! C'est une chose trop grave pour la confier à des militaries" -- war is too serious a matter to be entrusted to the military. The idea that Clemenceau was trying to project through these words is that experts are often incapable of seeing beyond their profession and understanding the greater domains of necessity.

Here in Hawaii, we are facing a transportation infrastructure crisis of the highest degree of peril. I assert to every single man, woman, and child of these Hawaiian Islands that our future is too serious a matter to be left to so-called "transportation experts." Hawaii's future must be determined by you and me. We, the people of Hawaii, must act today regarding this great and terrible crisis in order to preserve tomorrow.

Somewhere in this state, there is a woman who woke up this morning just like any other morning, completely unaware that today, something is vastly different, for in her is a small and tiny lifeforce comprised of not more than two cells which are rapidly dividing to create the frame of a new human being.

The life that is in those two cells is one that will shortly grow to develop hopes, dreams, desires, and passions. The baby that will be born to that woman has no clue as to the politics which presently exist in the world his mother occupies, neither has he any knowledge of the various special interest groups and factions which clamor for attention in Hawaii. All he knows is what is programmed into every human heart: live, keep on living, and live as best as you can.

It is that unborn baby who hasn't even been given a name that we must rally ourselves to action for, because though he didn't ask to come into this world, he is soon going to be born into a state which has the second highest per capita tax burden in the entire United States of America, born into a city and county which insists on building a multibillion dollar rail system funded by the hard earned tax dollars of his mother and father, and born into an island which has cars backed up for miles on the highways and streets.

When that baby is born and grows up to be a 21-year-old man, he is going to see Hawaii as a desperate, frustrating place with limited options, and worse yet, he is going to believe that what he sees is normal. He won't know about Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann who like Ozymandias was powerful yet here for a short time and gone, he won't know about the mayor's panel of "experts" assembled in 2007, and he won't even know which State Representatives voted to create the tax structure which oppresses him so severely in the year 2029.

All he knows is what he sees in the year 2029 -- a present day for him which will be the future we forged. If there is any among you who have not yet extinguished the lamp of conscience or been lulled into the matrix of deception, I call upon you to do more than just build that man's future -- I challenge you to save it.

A bill is currently stuck in the Transportation and International Affairs Committee of the Hawaii State Senate which was the first step towards saving that unborn baby's future. House Bill 70 HD3, Relating to Transportation, was introduced on Jan. 17, 2007, by state Rep. Rida Cabanilla and a coalition of the willing comprised of nine other legislators as a last ditch effort to take the system of dysfunction offline and get a working transportation infrastructure established for Hawaii without breaking the wallets of the taxpayer.

Rather than rely on oppressive and steadily increasing gasoline tax and general excise tax to fund the construction of new roads, House Bill 70 calls upon private business to create new roads to supplement our existing ones and offer new options for Hawaii's future through what is called a Public Private Partnership (PPP). It is rooted in the spirit of what the late President Ronald Reagan said in his inaugural address some 26 years ago: "In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem."

How the roads proposed by Rep. Cabanilla and her coalition of the willing work is simple: we keep the existing roads, but rather than increase taxes to build new ones, private business will make an investment in Hawaii's future by constructing an additional set of highways. Once those highways are constructed, the cost of construction will be paid for by reasonable and affordable user tolls.

Currently existing public roads which are free will remain free, and will not be converted into toll roads. If you want to stay on H-1 and drive by way of H-1, you can continue to do so. But if you need to get from Kapolei to Downtown Honolulu in 20 minutes or less, you could choose to drive into a clearly marked entrance ramp leading to the private highway, allowing you to warp right into town at high speed, unencumbered by traffic.

The idea is extremely novel because buses will ride for free, along with police and other emergency vehicles. In the event of a disaster or a natural emergency, the private highway would be opened up to all users for free. It is a flexible and easy to implement solution which embodies the best aspects of capitalism and shuns the worst flaws of socialism that are inherent in nearly public service the government does for the citizenry.

Just the other day, I decided to drive from my home in Royal Kunia to the State Capitol. The distance from my home to our seat of government is 16.99 miles. According to Mapquest.com, the estimated driving time is approximately 25 minutes. But in reality, I did not get to the Capitol in 25 minutes; I arrived in not less than 1 hour and 20 minutes. I consider that to be unacceptable: when I went to graduate school at Southwest Texas State University, I commuted 50 miles from my home in Universal City to the San Marcos campus through evening rush hour traffic, and yet the total driving time was not more than 46 minutes. 50 miles in 46 minutes of rush hour traffic is not bad. But to travel 16.99 miles in 1 hour and 20 minutes, I call that a glorious waste of time and a blemish on the infrastructure of 21st century Oahu. If I had a private highway as those proposed in HB70, I would have been more than willing to pay $4 or more to get from Royal Kunia to Honolulu in Mapquest.com's projected 25 minutes or less.

Unfortunately, in recent months, Rep. Cabanilla and her coalition of the willing have been slandered and maliciously attacked by an army of political deadbeats and socialist bosses masquerading as democratic leaders. They have attempted to utilize fear tactics and intrigue to suppress the idea of private transportation solutions, and they have won deceived disciples by astonishing us with stories of a toll fare costing $21.00 per car and dazzling us with official sounding terms like "Smart Growth" and "Law of the Splintered Paddle."

The system agents of this socialist fifth column have cut into reputations and executed a powerfully orchestrated smear campaign against anyone who has dared to suggest that there is another way other than a multibillion dollar, union controlled, tax-funded rail transit system, people like Councilmember Ann Kobayashi and University of Hawaii Professor of Traffic Engineering Dr. Panos Prevedouros. These are the people who have risked their reputations to act in the spirit of what an American naturalist once wrote: "A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against its government."

I urge every single one of you to join the coalition of the willing and support HB70 by petitioning your State Senators to get a hearing for this bill. It isn't by any means a cure-all for Hawaii's transportation problems, but it is a start towards a much needed victory. Hawaii's residents need a quick solution now, not twenty years or thirty years later. HB70 is the first step towards victory, because it is designed to show us that we don't need government to lock us on a set of tracks to the future, we need the hearts of the people to pave a road to individual destiny.

In that sense, because of the current desperation and darkness of this time, because of the lack of faith by so many, I compare the author of HB70, Representative Rida Cabanilla who is also a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Army Reserve, to another great Army Lieutenant Colonel who came through when the stakes were high and America's chin was low: none other than Lt. Col. James H. "Jimmy" Doolittle, the U.S. Army officer and Medal of Honor winner whose thirty seconds over Tokyo gave Americans the faith to believe that we could overcome anything. The Doolittle Raid, like HB70, was a daring and unorthodox idea hatched in a dark and desperate time that nearly everyone who heard of it claimed it couldn't be done.

But it was done, and through it, Americans got an immediate victory fix and became emboldened to do other great and mighty things. HB70 works in exactly the same manner: it is designed to give us a quick and immediate victory, one which will show Hawaii that we can break the cycle of dysfunction and pursue a working future without the help of our government's tax-funded projects.

I honestly believe that not only will private highways work in Hawaii, but once the citizens see that private ideas work, they will be inspired to innovate, invest, save, and achieve in all areas of life. They will no longer depend on their government or be led about by government like a donkey whose mouth is clamped on a bit, but they will rise with healing in their wings and burst forth like calves released from the stall. That is the kind of future I want, and that is the Hawaii we all deserve.

So let us not waste any further time: our future is too serious a matter to be left to the "experts." Do not fear what those who cling to socialism fear; be strong and very courageous. Tell your state Senators that you want HB70 heard this upcoming Legislative Session, and demand that the government give you back your future. There will be critics and slanderers, but do not listen to them. There will be fearful men with fearful words, but don't be afraid of them.

Fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes and fight for your future. Hawaii cannot exist half socialist and half free, ruled by technocrats and populated by fearful citizens. Nelson Mandela, the man who overcame apartheid tells us, "We face an enemy that is deep rooted; an enemy entrenched and determined not to yield. Our march to freedom is long and difficult. But both within and beyond our borders the prospects of victory grow very bright."

Build the future. Save tomorrow. Show your government that this is still a nation of the people, by the people. You have good reason to shake them: they laughed at all of you in their committee hearings when they read your testimonies. They laughed at you behind closed doors and in private lunches with dainty foods.

They made their pacts and deceived themselves that God was with them to dictate your future. They gave awards to one another, joking casually about who spoke the longest against your future. But now, they will not laugh any more when you add your voice to the coalition of the willing.

They will not laugh when you choose to take back what is your birthright: your future. Support House Bill 70 and let every nation, clan, and tribe of men across the world know that in the year 2007, free men lived in the State of Hawaii and chose to not go gentle into that good night, but united their tongues as one voice and shook the pillars of creation itself to boldly declare, "Our future still belongs to us! Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono!"

Daniel Paul de Gracia, II, is a political scientist specializing in international relations, a pastor at the International Christian Church and Bible School in Honolulu, and a former candidate for state Representative. He lives in Waipahu.

The intent of the Interstate Highway System was to connect military bases in order to facilitate national defense. Oahu has several military bases--it had even more when the Interstate Highway System was devised--and so IH1 was built.

An interesting thing occurred about the time I was stationed there in 1969. Kaiser (a mainland company) won the bid for the first 10 miles of IH1 from Barbers Point NAS to Waipahu and completed this section very quickly. At that point all of the local construction companies lobbied their congressman and senators to ensure that they got a piece of the IH1 pie. As a result, the remaining pieces of IH1 were chopped into short segments of a mile or so each, and the completion of IH1 took years.

Of course this is propoganda... he spends a 1/3 of the editorial on imagery before he even gets to his issue... this is purely propoganda and I can’t on the face of it accept anything in it as fact.

The Big Island has two interstate level freeways. Of course, they are island only, for mysterious reasons known only to heaven and to the Hawaiian freeway builders. ;-)

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

If Hawaii had the quality of representation in Washington as does Alaska, they could get federal funding to build bridges between the islands. So what if it cost billions of dollars a mile and would be unsafe. It’s only taxpayer money.

A 3,000 mile bridge would be feasible. Assuming any one is willing to drive that far to reach the Big Island and vice versa.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

Spent over 3 weeks on Oahu last month. The transportation system is quite poor. It’s not a t-system it’s just long parking lots. It was a semi-vacation and probably my last trip for a while if not ever to the islands. For a place you never have to worry about extreme cold or heat, they are too auto dependent. It’s a unique place in that land is scarce and what little there isn’t usually flat. It requires creative design and use. That, they do not have.

I stopped over in Honolulu for a few days in the late 1980s. I went on a snorkeling excursion, and the bus driver to the boat gave a running commentary on various things, including the adding of a foot or so to the height of the “jersey barrier” on H-1 “guaranteeing lifetime employment for the relatives of state politicians...”

Genius lies in making a long story short — not in making a short story interminable and therefore unreadable — no matter how “brilliant” one thinks he is. That’s for other people to decide for themselves.

If a person can’t say what they mean in 500 words or less, nobody is going to bother going past that — so it really doesn’t matter what they have to say.

People read to get as much information as quickly and efficiently as possible — and not because they don’t have anything better to do with their time.

That’s what the old media writers haven’t figured out yet — mainly because they get paid by the word.

That is the difference of the new media paradigm.

I used the bus system a lot. It is quite good. It seemed like no self respecting white person but me seemed to ride it. Also, Hawaiian’s seem to own 2 cars each. 1 to drive and 1 broken down one to park in their front lawn.

Law of the Splintered Paddle

Learn something new on FR everyday.

Mamalahoe, or law of the splintered paddle, is a precept in Hawaiian law, originating with King Kamehameha I in 1797. The law, "Let every elderly person, woman and child lie by the roadside in safety," is enshrined in the state constitution, Article 9, Section 10, and has become a model for modern human rights law regarding the treatment of civilians and other non-combatants during battle. It was created when Kamehameha was fighting in Puna. While chasing two fishermen (presumably with the intention to kill them), his leg was caught in the reef, and one of the fisherman, Kaleleiki, hit him mightily on the head with a paddle in defense, which broke into pieces. Luckily, Kamehameha was able to escape. Years later, the same fisherman was brought before Kamehameha. Instead of ordering for him to be killed Kamehameha ruled that he had only been protecting his land and family, and so the Law of the Splintered Paddle was formed.

Oahu doesn’t have room for additional highways. Even if it did, the new highways would soon be just as congested as the existing ones, so you’re not going to go ‘warp’ speed anywhere, pay or no pay.

However, I agree with the author about the “panel of experts” being summoned by the mayor. It’s more like a “panel of people who lick the mayor’s shoes”.

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