George F. Will is an @$$. I say this because he claims to intuit that my desire to travel to and from Las Vegas by rail is motivated by a desire to make my fellow Americans “more amenable to collectivism.” No, I just happen to like trains more than cars and enjoy the travel-by-rail experience, even if it is an anachronism to some musty pedants in Foggy Bottom. To put it in language that Mr. Will would understand: Poppycock! Piffle! Pish-tush! Persiflage, sirrah!
Perhaps wrongheadedly, I think facilitating rail travel between Sin City and, oh, Los Angeles might help resolve traffic problems that have proven insoluble for, lo, these past 12 years at least. (I-15 might actually be more anachronistic, at least to those who’ve navigated its weekend bottleneck or been turned back when snow closes its mountain passes.)
However, Will natters nonsensically, “To progressives, the best thing about railroads is that people riding them are not in automobiles, which are subversive of the deference on which progressivism depends. Automobiles go hither and yon, wherever and whenever the driver desires, without timetables. Automobiles encourage people to think they — unsupervised, untutored, and unscripted — are masters of their fates. The automobile encourages people in delusions of adequacy, which make them resistant to government by experts who know what choices people should make.” (Mind you, this is the same George F. Will who complained about Vegas’ traffic congestion seven years ago.)
Gosh, if railroads are a medium of collectivism, what would George F. say about airlines (never mind buses)? To go to an airport these days is to well and truly realize that we are not “masters of our fates.” (The TSA is.) However, even the snobbish Will* knows better than to pursue his anti-mass-transportation argument to its logical extreme: that we should all have our own private airplanes, too. What a douche.
(* — Given what we’ve seen and heard of Will over the years, I suspect his real objection to mass transit is a fear of having to rub elbows with the Great Unwashed. Man up, George. Ride a subway, you pantywaist.)
Incidentally, among the roll call of state governors proclaiming their aversion to high-speed rail, I do not see the name of Lousiana‘s Bobby Jindal. You will recall that, in a prime-time speech (left) whose Mister Rogers-like manner momentarily derailed Jindal’s political career, he uttered bogeyman rhetoric about federal money being spent on a train “from Las Vegas to Disneyland.” Yeah, we were gonna scoop all those little tykes and turn ’em loose to spend their allowances on the slot machines. (Luckily, Jindal didn’t suss out our equally nefarious plot to kidnap all the white suburban moms in Anaheim and enslave them in the brothels of Pahrump. Whew!)
When the penny dropped, it turned out that Jindal coveted those high-speed-rail dollars for a choo-choo route between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Last time I checked, both of those cities had multiple casinos … and the Big Easy wasn’t exactly famous as a hub of piety, either. Hypocrisy’s a bitch, ain’t it?
George Will has to answer to his Corporate masters, the Koch Brothers and the fossil fuel industry. Plus if enough people get jobs, it gets harder to defeat Obama. I’m with you David. If we got HSR, I would not have to leave Vegas at 7:30 in the morning on Sundays to avoid the Death March through Victorville. Anyone caught in that bottleneck would agree. It’s telling that Will speaks negatively of collective thought. So much of the conservative philosophy depends on creating divisions between people that he feels threatened. How sad… Very impressive pick-up of that Jindal HSR tid bit David. I too am and was amazed by that speech. A Star Is Born it was not…
Unfortuantely, most of us in SoCal will still drive to Vegas. High speed rail, while in principle, will move you faster than a car, it is limited in passenger numbers and number of trains going in each direction. Besides, a flight on Southwest, that i just made, is $250 round trip from Burbank, and takes under an hour, traveling at 500 mph or so. It will take at least 2 hours or more to get to vegas by high speed rail, and it will cost more. If you wish to complete all of your travel by train, you must also take a commuter train to a central station. I just drive to the airport, and take a cab to the hotel. Much more simple and more direct. As for the cost, it will take twice as much as budgeted, and not go as fast. Look at the Vegas Monorail. It had wonderful projections of ridership and economys. It has neither. The same will happen with HSR. As for liberals wanting control over the masses, that is true. Read the doctrines. Socialism is sickening. Its great for those that have no chance of being the controllers. Living for free is every lazy mans dream.
Hi all. Us igant Red Necks in the Carolina’s don’t mind if Y’all git you a train. Jusin as long as you or the Casino’s pay for it.
We don’t want or need one here. But if we change our minds we will pay for it. Unless you volunteer to do it. Haven’t ya heard the nations finances are in the dumper. We can’t just keep spending. Just like Vegas can’t keep building hotels
I also could not agree with you more, and I applaud your efforts to point out what I consider to be the reason I don’t even discuss politics with others anymore: Hypocrisy.
I will never forget seeing Mr. Will on a Sunday morning politico program shortly after 9/11. He as asked “where were you when 9/11 happened”? He responded that he was stuck in Minneapolis with no clear way home – no air travel, possible rail alternatives, etc. What was his response? He sought out the nearest Jaguar dealership, bought himself a cool BRITISH ride right off the lot, and motored his way home to his comfy elite community outside DC. Amazing elitism – but what is more amazing is that anyone still believes he has anything useful to contribute to the public dialogue.
Mr. Pilot53:
Please let us in on your system. The rest of us have to arrive 1.5 hours before our flight for the first line. Then we have a get-naked party where we celebrate Japanese traditions like taking off our shoes. After the TSA guys chuckle at our packages, we then get to put our belts on for the Festival Seating charge to our flight. Upon arrival we do the Shrek cab-line shuffle. Tell you what… I’ll race you. Burbank is close to the 210. You go get naked and fly, and I will drive. We will arrive around the same time, and I will have saved the family jewells from exposure…