Why High-Speed Rail Won’t Happen in the United States
It’s common for Americans traveling abroad to return home wondering why the U.S. has no high-speed rail. At 300 MPH, a trip from Los Angeles to the East Coast would take less than eight restful hours, free of turbulence, without requiring passengers to arrive 90 minutes before take-off, to suffer the indignities of TSA and a 30-minute boarding process–and all without the disruption of weather delays. Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?
If you Google this subject, you’ll notice that plenty has been written on it, but, in truth, no one knows the true and complete answer.
Maybe it’s significant that the U.S. is the only developed country on Earth in which Big Money essentially owns the legal system. We are unique in the way we invite moneyed interests to strangle to death anything that threatens them.
What Happens Here Isn’t Governed By Chance
Thus, the reason we don’t have high-speed rail is the same reason we don’t have universal health care, quality education, common-sense gun laws, improved bridges and roadways and clean energy. It’s the same reason we do have huge tax cuts for billionaires, planet-choking emissions from fossil fuel consumption, 15 million children (21%) living in poverty, mass incarceration, an increasing list of toxic chemicals that industry can dump into our waterways, and federal laws classifying marijuana and heroin with the same criminal statutes. We have plenty of misery here, but it’s not purposeless; every single molecule of it directly benefits the rich.
It Gets Worse
Of course, the observations above could have been made decades ago. Right now, however, all this is coming to a head. Our democracy, based as it is on rule of law, is on the brink of extinction, and only the next few weeks will reveal if a single person can use his unchecked power to shield himself from investigation and prosecution.
High-speed rail? That’s a laugh. We’ll have teleportation first. The best we can hope for is a return to the good old days before the U.S. president had claimed absolute authority to break the law. You remember those those halcyon days when laws were made in smoke-filled rooms, far from public view. This wasn’t democracy, but at least it wasn’t fascism.
Craig,
Why turn a potentially interesting discussion about the virtues of high speed rail, into a partisan political rant about all sorts of imaginary evils?
Doomsday, however exciting the prospect of ‘righteous” apocalypse might appeal to your frustrated desire for your imagined enemy’s to get their well deserved comeuppance,…. ain’t gonna happen !
Squealing loudly, and being outraged because the tactics you used are now being used to bring you to account for your misdeeds and transactions,. will bring little support.
“Democracy” , is not” at the brink of extinction” because a President you dislike has been elected!
You may consider the advisability of such fantasies becoming excessive and re-focus on more positive subjects.
I really like trains, and the history of transport and rail in particular, in the USA is very different than in most nations.
The desirability, logistics and economics of high speed rail across the US presents considerable complexities.
The Obama administration allocated more than $14 billion for “high speed” rail, California being the largest recipient. Despite high hopes, little real improvement was achieved.
It’s an interesting subject and one which needs considerable thought and research. The productive value of such research and discussion will not be assisted by being sidetracked (did you see what I did there :)) with endless barrages of political hype and tirades.