That’s true enough, but we don’t have referendums on whether to buy another aircraft carrier, or whether to keep storing nuclear waste. That’s because there’s an implicit assumption that 1) government does those things and 2) they just get on with it. It’s clearly not the case here that government feels responsible for mass transit. And it’s not an accident. There are private companies who want to sell cars, and there are others who want to sell fuel, and there are lots of people who want to live in the suburbs where mass transit isn’t cost effective to build rather than cities where it is.
Well, no doubt which way Bernie wants Democrats to go!
All fine with me. Pass this stuff, then hammer Republicans in 2020 with their failure to move it along.
Of course those aren’t communist. Communism is a form of socialism, and according to Marx and Engels, socialism requires democracy of the working class, not tyrannical oppression of that same class.
Lol, of course not.
I don’t disagree. The problem though isn’t really related to private vs public though.
Governments don’t really feel, people do. As a nation, we have never emphasized the idea of public transportation or a national transportation system run by the government as any sort of top priority. It’s not even one for today.
Japan has a combination of public and privately owned transportation. It’s a little screw bally in some areas due to the private portion and also not great due to how some politicians campaigned and promised specific stations but it’s way better than what we have now. Again, the issue isn’t really private vs public. If the demand was there, we’d have it.
It’s not just that people want to drive their cars, a lot of the burbs were designed for it. We’re not set-up very well for a good transportation system, but priority and voting can change that… no matter what the car companies want.
The problem with rail transit in the US is there are no existing rights of way for high speed track in urban areas. Hence Amtrak’s weak Acela lines which can only go full speed on some stretches of track and which don’t compare in any event to other countries’ high-speed trains. To fix this, new lines have to be acquired or old ones widened and straightened by expensive eminent domain. Which is very tough to accomplish at the best of times with big budgets because land-owners will perceive they are being screwed and will scream to high heaven, and the land value is very high in urban areas.
Of course Amtrak has been operating with a budgetary choker collar in every Republican and Democrat administration since it was founded so they have little discretionary budget anyway. Not that they’d know what to do with all the money in the world because they are so badly managed, but the money does have to come from somewhere, and as we know, the political will simply doesn’t exist.
Seth Moulton, leader of the the House Democratic faction that was opposing Pelosi, now is ready to negotiate with her.
Hey look, some messaging!
As previously discussed, nothing of import will come of this. But you gotta say it.
We’re all prepared for the people of Mississippi to vote for a racist piece of shit tomorrow, right?
It’s basically guaranteed. The only reason we are in a runoff is because a bunch of folks voted for an even MORE crazy person first. They are all going to vote for the racist.
Think about the average state that voted Republican in the 2016 election.
Mississippi is something like 15% more Republican than that.
Nothing to be done for it.
In fairness, i thought that Alabama was going to elect Moore, but I’m more certain that they are going to elect the crazy racist lady.
Being racist in Mississippi isn’t a bug, it’s a feature.
There was plenty of evidence in Alabama that Roy Moore was detested even by typical Republican voters. He was a flawed candidate who was very disliked statewide even before he ran for senate.
Cyndi Hyde-Smith hasn’t had enough time to build up that kind of disapproval equity, even given her recent statements.
Nate Silver seemed to think there was something like a ten percent chance given that there have been some special elections where the dems did win R+15 areas, but he didn’t build a model or anything.
I think part of it is that Moore being a pedophile actually outraged both parties.
In Mississippi, racism just doesn’t have that same kind of universal response.
Doesn’t make sense. They were so outraged that they almost voted him in as a Senator?
You have to keep in mind that the alternative was a Democrat, which is about sixes with a pedophile in their worldview. And no, I’m not really joking, either.
And Moore’s “issues” were not exactly a secret prior to his election. It was close despite the scandal making national news.