Your absurdly expensive trip by train--your red herring--would be economical and clean and comfortable in a system where trains were VALUED and well-designed and used not by a tiny minority but by the majority. This country had such trains once. People used them and loved them. That trains now suck as they do only ratifies my argument.
And even at this sorry point in this benighted country one can now take a comfortable bus--movie included!--from Baltimore to New York City and back for around $50--far less than you would spend on gas, tolls, car maintenance, and expenses driving solo. Neocon could sit back, relax, and read the Summa Theologica instead of having to grip the wheel and stare at the road for hours. And the bus gets you there in 3 1/2 hours!--it doesn't stop--you try making it from Baltimore to New York City in 3 1/2 hours yourself without stopping, even in your hay hauler. No way, Jose. And with a sleek, modern, high-speed bullet-train, not some cash-starved, government-strangled, ancient, cow-catching Amtrak POS--you could make the same trip in one hour! Think of that!!
And, whatever hay hauling and snow driving you do, I'm afraid you are not really the representative All-American test case around which the nation's entire transportation system should be designed. |
