From Trains to Cars and to Cars Again

I’m sure many are already responding or have responded too the George F. Will article on why liberals are trying to take control of everyone in America, and also like trains, so I’d like too add my piece as well. While I would like to denounce Will and call his article a desperate attempt to degrade progressives, I must admit I’m torn when it comes to trains.
What I like about trains is that they provide cheap, reliable transportation, especially for those who are unable to afford a car and they also are extremely environmentally friendly. Not only do they produce drastically less carbon emissions than cars or planes, but also they by nature get cars off of the highway.
The problem I have with trains, as mentioned by Will, is that they are expensive to build and they are limiting to the passenger compared to the car. To be honest I love cars and would prefer to see a switch to hydrogen fuel rather than see a radically expensive rail system built, especially during a recession. Hydrogen may seem as or more radical as building a $53 billion high-speed train system, but I feel that it would not only would be a huge leap towards sustainability but would also maintain our extensive use of cars.
To me the car carries similar connotations of “democratic aspirations” today as the train did 100+ years ago. It’s a symbol of American ingenuity, of production, of freedom and maybe also symbolic of our countries falling, or at least “evolving”, place in the world. I’d like to see cars again be the future of American society. While I would also like to see the emergence of trains nationwide, I think cars will lead the way, both environmentally and symbolically, in American life.


PS: I feel that trains aren’t a great source of social capital, just like planes aren’t a good source of social capital. Sure trains might be more comfortable or quieter than planes but people today are just to engrossed in media and electronic devises to develop significant social capital on trains or other public forms of transportation.

It should also be noted that most of my knowledge on Hydrogen cars comes from Top Gear, so here is a clip that might be enlightening, but at the very least it should be entertaining.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AUurBnLbJw