George Will, a salaried propagandist of the established order, condemns trains. I must admit that only private jets should get government subsidies, in a plutocracy. Whines Will:
"So why is America’s “win the future” administration so fixated on railroads, a technology that was the future two centuries ago? Because progressivism’s aim is the modification of (other people’s) behavior.
Forever seeking Archimedean levers for prying the world in directions they prefer, progressives say they embrace high-speed rail for many reasons—to improve the climate, increase competitiveness, enhance national security, reduce congestion, and rationalize land use. The length of the list of reasons, and the flimsiness of each, points to this conclusion: the real reason for progressives’ passion for trains is their goal of diminishing Americans’ individualism in order to make them more amenable to collectivism."
Trains are a lot more empowering and individualistic than planes, as anybody who has travelled in both will recognize — and planes, not cars, are the main alternative to high-speed rail. Besides, what is empowering at driving a car? One becomes a slave to the art of avoiding accidents and respecting all laws and regulations.
Says Krugman: "And there’s the bit about rail as an antiquated technology; try saying that after riding the Shanghai Maglev."
Will is a clever man, indeed. He goes where the money is, and serves who Adam Smith called \"the masters\" (generations before Karl Marx). Clever he is, but not moral.
American individualism, like American exceptionalism, or Hitler's celebrated attachment to the right of minorities in the name of human rights (one of his main electoral platform points!) are much exaggerated notions. If the American elite is that individualistic, how come most of them think all the same?
By the way, there is a lot of high tech in very high speed trains. Maglev has no advantage over steel wheels, but a lot of disadvantages. Maglev uses a lot of light but flammable materials, and extravagant high magnetic fields, there have been very bad accidents. Whereas steel wheels can go wherever there are rails, not so with maglev.
The maglev speed record is just a mile per hour or so above the (French) high speed, steel wheels record of 575 kilometers per hour. At these speeds non trivial shock waves and resonance have to be solved. Pantographs maintain contact through electronic piloting.
An intermediate technology exists, capable of 250 km/h on conventional lines, where the trains lean in the turns (Russia bought it from French Alstom, which bought it from Italy).
Notice the attack of Will against "progress". This is one of the main point of American plutocratic propaganda: progress itself is the problem. Why so? Of course progress came with laws against slavery, murder and torture all of which handicap the truly wealthy. But there is more. Ultimately plutocracy rests on military force, which rests on lack of progress. Savages need savagery to justify their own existence.
At this point, American technolgical superiority is pretty much reduced to superior people killing technology. No wonder neoconservatives are against progress. more than 50% of the weapons sold, worldwide, are American made. An American president said: "The business of America is business". Does that mean that, nowadays, the business of America has become death?
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