Conversation with Jennings Rails and Liberty

Question: You're a libertarian yet you're a strong advocate of rail transit why?
Answer: I believe in reason rail is simply the fastest, most efficient mode of ground transportation available. It's also a form of ground transportation that can be financed, designed and built by private companies. When private companies have to design and build a ground transportation system they usually go with rail.
Question: Libertarians usually see rail especially mass transit as a socialist conspiracy and a the automobile as a symbol of liberty. You disagree with them why?
Answer: They're wrong. It's that simple, yes some socialists, liberals and progressives promote rail and mass transit. That doesn't mean rail and mass transit are bad, merely that some bad or misguided people believe in them. In the United States the automobile is supported by a massive socialist tax supported road and highway system. This is almost entirely government owned and operated and I might add a product of Central Planning similar to that in the old Soviet Union. How is that a symbol of liberty?
Question: But auto supporters say the automobile provides individual transportation and freedom?
Answer: Well yes it does but shouldn't it be the average person's choice to own and drive one or not. Most Americans own cars because they have no choice. A great many Americans couldn't reach the basic needs of life without a car. How is that liberty? People are forced to buy cars because of decisions made by central planners that is Socialism isn't it. Shouldn=t people have a choice whether to buy and drive a car or not. Most of us don't have the choice. If the car is as wonderful as the auto apologists say then people would choose it themselves.
Question: Do you support government subsidies for mass transportation and rail?
Answer: No. I'd like to see all government subsidies for transportation cars, planes, trains, light rail, buses etc. abolished. Government run transportation has been a disaster that has stripped average Americans of their basic freedoms, left us dependant on foreign oil, and left most of us stuck in gridlock. We're wasting our tax dollars on highways that are essentially 1930s technology and rail transit systems that are just a souped up version of what we had in 1910. Wouldn't it be wonderful if private entrepreneurs could provide us with transportation the same way we get Internet service. Imagine what computers would be like if Bill Gates had to go to Congress to get permission to introduce new software? There are lots of inventors out there with innovative new technologies that will never get off the ground because government is making the decisions. If the automobile is so wonderful, then those people who love it should pay for it. If they want highways to drive on let them have toll roads. If they want gasoline let them pay whatever the Arabs will charge for it.
Question: You've backed some government mass transit systems why?
Answer: Simple, I=m a tax payer. I know that in modern America ending transportation subsidies would be politically impossible. Since government is going to spend my money anyway it might as well be on something useful I agree with.
Question: Most Libertarians and conservatives oppose rail and back the car why?
Answer: Mainly because they're ignorant of history. They don't know where the highway system came from it was designed and built by the Progressives, the same American socialists who gave us the Income Tax, Prohibition, Racial Segregation, the FBI, Two World Wars and the Draft. Highway construction was part of their war on individual freedom and private business. They deliberately and systematically replaced private transportation systems with their government run system. The idea was to give America a centrally controlled transportation system owned and run by the government.

The highway builders seized vast amounts of private property to build their roads and bulldozed entire neighborhoods to do so. In New York City, highway builder Robert Moses engaged in a sort of ethnic cleansing bulldozing ethnic neighborhoods full of poor people for roads that white middle class people would drive on. The only thing they know about the rail car debate is conservative propaganda which says rail bad car good. Learn the history of your own country. Back in 1910 when real estate developers wanted to subdivide land outside the city they had to build a new transportation artery to it. Today they pass the cost onto the taxpayers because they know the city or the county will build a road to them. I couldn't think of a better means of controlling sprawl. Let those who want to live in the countryside pay for the privilege.
Question: What do you think of the Peak Oil Thesis? The idea that we've reached the maximum level of oil production and that oil supplies will decline. Some Peak Oil Believers such as your friend James Kunstler think this will take society back to the 19th Century.
Answer: Well Peak Oil is for real. Most petroleum geologists agree with it. However, it won't lead to the collapse of civilization. Nobody will have to start hoeing potatoes or driving a horse drawn buggy because of it. In fact Peak Oil maybe a good thing because it will force us to utilize other sources of energy.
Question: Why do you think Peak Oil could be a good thing?
Answer: We are dependant upon oil because there has been no economic incentive to develop alternate energy sources or invest in transportation technologies such as electric rail that don=t need oil. There has been no economic incentive for average people to turn to those alternatives. Peak oil will create that incentive.
Question: Does Peak Oil mean disaster for America and an end to the American dream?
Answer: It means a rude awakening a nasty jolt that will get us back on the right track. If you look around the world many of the richest societies, Switzerland, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, the Netherlands, Scandinavia are seriously lacking in resources yet they are prosperous and provide a good life for their citizens. Scarcity of resources provides an incentive for innovation and hard work. People are forced to pool their resources, get education and work hard. At the same time societies with abundance of resources such as Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Russia are among the most corrupt. A serious lack of resources will make America more technologically advanced and more progressive socially. It'll help us achieve the American dream.
Question: What do you think the future of transportation is?
Answer: Unless Scotty invents us a working teleportation machine, rail is the best, fastest, most efficient and most effective ground transportation system along. So it's the future of ground transportation. It'll be augmented by improved automobiles and air travel. I doubt we'll see flying cars but small aircraft that can be used for taxi and transport could be an effective alternative. Imagine if average people had the kind of air travel the rich have today. So my guess is that rail and air are the future of travel because those two modes are more free of government interference.