Gov. Rick Scott's unilateral decision to kill high-speed rail in Florida is an example of the private business corrupting the government, and using that ability to stonewall progress of the whole society under the political guise of fiscal conservatism and bogus free-market economy philosophy.
Imagine a world where there was the choice to have cheap efficient transportation available to everyone, no more car insurance, no more high gas prices, no more car payments, drastically reduced air pollution, no more rush-hour traffic jams, just a leisurely ride to anywhere one wanted to go with free provided Internet connection and the ability to talk and text on your cell phone the whole trip. This possibility has already been successfully realized in many countries. It is called high-speed rail.
(It is also important to note, even those do not use high-speed rail--that wish to incur the added cost and burden of owning and using a motor vehicle--will enjoy the benefits of high-speed rail in form of lower gas prices and less traffic congestion.)
For every traffic jam, for every war in the Middle East, every time a citizen spends a small fortune at the gas pump because of a price hike, the oil companies are raking in more and more profit. So much profit they can afford to pay off conservative think tanks like the Heritage Foundation and the Reason Foundation, that directly guided Florida Governor’s actions to axe to the high-speed rail project.
These foundations prey upon the misleading truth and half truths to push their agenda's, in this case they justify their claims with the idea that a single stretch of high-speed rail does not have the ability to justify its initial cost as well as the twisted truth that the high-speed rail poses too much risk to investors. The core of their argument is only rational when seen out of context of the big picture, relying upon the ignorance of the public, trusting that majority of people won't do the research and the little bit of abstract reasoning required to uncover the lies behind what they proclaim.
It takes a substantial infrastructure of high-speed rail to offer all the benefits necessary to justify its the construction of high-speed rail. Just as the internet gained its value from the extensiveness of its network--a network originally conceived and designed by the US government--it will be the same with high-speed rail. Only the central government with a concern for the nation at large has the means and the initiative to begin such a long-term project with huge benefits to the masses and no specific benefits to any private interest. It is ridiculous to expect private investors to carry out or contribute to a project that will revolutionize trade and commerce in a way outside of their immediate control and specific benefit.
High speed rail threatens the current big money investors already invested in the current outdated status quo of transportation; big money investors are not going to invest or support high-speed rail in its infancy stages to their own immediate loss. The argument that high-speed rail is a risky investment based on private investors unwillingness to invest is fallacious.
One only need to look at Europe, China, and Japan to see the value of the investment, to see how extraordinarily successful high-speed rail is and the benefit it brings to the whole of society. Just like it happened with the Internet, free-market investors are only likely start investing after the foundations have been built and proven, when they selfishly determine that not investing poses more risk than investing does.
The information the Gov. of Florida used was biased and inaccurate. His decision to kill high-speed rail was unjustifiable by any stretch of reason that considers the people of Florida as its highest priority.
