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Fast Track To Public Rail Electrification

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[quote user="schlimm"] Some (though not all) of the opposition to electrification, HSR, etc. here sounds a bit like the opposition to the the Industrial Revolution's innovations (water-powered mills, steam power, etc) by the the original saboteurs - they would stick their wooden shoes (sabots) into the powered looms to wreck them.  If there are measures that can be taken that could reduce our reliance on oil from the Mideast, even at a fairly high price, I think we would all benefit.  Besides, it really does sound like electrification by private rails will happen. [/quote] I replied that I don’t think there is an analogy between the opposition to the industrial revolution and the opposition to HRS, electrification, etc.  <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p> You replied: <o:p></o:p> “Not to be taken literally.  It is a metaphor or symbol for the opposition to inevitable progress.” <o:p></o:p> My response: <o:p></o:p> I understand your metaphor, but my point was not about whether you were using a metaphor, or were literally objecting to people putting their shoes in the machinery to stop progress.  My point is that there is a big difference between being opposed to progress and being opposed to excessive growth of government. <o:p></o:p> The traditional opposition to progress is often expressed by people who fear societal change because they have difficulty in changing personally to accommodate it.  They may also fear technological progress because its efficiency improvement eliminates certain jobs and careers in which people have stakes.  The Luddites are the classic example.  I suspect that hardly anybody opposes HSR (and other elements of this new energy / transportation proposal) for this group of reasons.  If HSR and were merely a better mousetrap being marketed by private business like new computers or software, I think that the only people opposing it would be those who have an interest in competing forms of transportation. <o:p></o:p> However, HSR, (to cite one component of rail electrification), is not simply an example of the inevitable technological progress.  It is instead, a public sector, publicly funded, government run system of socialized transportation.  People fear it because government is known to waste money due to poor oversight, fraud, abuse, and political opportunism.  People resist it because they do not want to be taxed for something they don’t need.  People are wary of the loss of freedom that tends to come from unbridled government expansion.   <o:p></o:p> The basic topic of this thread is about a broad proposal that includes rail electrification and HSR, among several other things.  It is all to be public funded by the government.  Assuming that the government will manage the construction and operation of this new infrastructure, it represents a massive increase in socialism.  Some people fear that.  <o:p></o:p> Right now, this is all in the preliminary stages.  It may or may not develop and be fully executed.  It may develop gradually, or it may take off with a bang.  The most developed component of the overall proposal is the embryonic, $8 billion HSR proposal.  It is purely a public sector proposal, and people oppose it for all of the reasons I have stated.  Mostly those reasons can be summarized as resistance to building something we don’t need.   <o:p></o:p> Much of the justification for the need sounds flimsy.  I am referring to the need to worry about what people in other countries think of us, for example.  One of the major justifications for the $8 billion HSR proposal is that it will create jobs.  It is, after all, part of the economic stimulus plan.  A lot of people are skeptical of the very premise of the Keynesian economic theory that government spending can stimulate the economy and end a recession.   So, overall, I don’t see any connection between the opposition to HSR and its greater dimensions of nationalized transportation, and the traditional opposition to progress.  Moreover, many would argue that these government-spending proposals are not progress.
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