High-speed rail a national security priority
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CT Post
Paul Scaglia
04/30/2010
By Paul Scaglia
Although it was encouraging to hear Gov. Rell and the state's congressional delegation voice their support for creating a high-speed rail line through Connecticut, ("Rell promises nation's first high-speed rails," April 27) the politicians are still failing to talk about or grasp the most important aspect of high-speed trains -- the need for America to create and build its own high-speed train. While most Connecticut politicians had been quick to give a corporate handout in the form of research and development money to develop a stealth attack helicopter that never flew, Connecticut congressional leaders should now show some leadership and create the economic incentives for a Connecticut company to help build a high-speed train built in America. With the United States government bleeding a river of red ink and over 5,000 American lives sacrificed protecting the flow of oil, the time has come for more Americans to view the creation of a high-speed rail network running with American-built trains as a national security priority.
Instead of serving the status quo interests during their entire time in power over the last 20 years since the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Berlin Wall, congressional leaders of Connecticut should have been earmarking more money for rail-based mass transit systems, instead of the corporate welfare support it gave to area defense companies, unscrupulous hedge fund managers and insurance industry executives. While it is refreshing to see Sen. Christopher Dodd finally doing what he should have been doing from the day he entered office, perhaps the other members of the delegation can find the same integrity to be defenders of average hard-working Americans, instead of being the agents for the wealthy status quo.
The misguided and illogical approach to national security through military spending is a guiding principle followed by Republican and Democratic politicians alike. Ingrained into their political DNA since the days of the Cold War, when the former leaders of the political establishment told the American public fighting that communism in the jungles in Southeast Asia would protect America, the latest group of politicians is following the same political playbook. Replacing communism with radical Islamic fundamentalism, the same result tragic result has occurred with a population of suburban kids avoiding military service, while the lower social economic class from the inner cities and rural America come back in flag-draped coffins. Instead of pouring trillions of dollars into protecting the finite resource of petroleum, the political establishment in America should be investing in the national economy by not only creating high-speed rail lines, but also building high-speed trains built and engineered by Americans to run on those new rail lines.
According to the National Priorities Project, a 501(c)(3) research organization that analyzes and clarifies how American tax dollars are spent, the American government has spent over $987 billion fighting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. For anyone even remotely paying attention, that figure includes billions of dollars that has gone unaccounted for through mismanagement, waste and outright embezzlement. While that number may seem a bit difficult for the average reader to comprehend, perhaps it would be better to begin with the $26 million figure recently announced that the state of Connecticut has spent so far on the enhanced rail corridor and compare that to how much money a defense contractor got for wiring base housing in the scores of military bases in Iraq.
Although building these rail lines will be a tough and challenging endeavor to undertake, requiring the same kind of patriotism found during the race to put a man on the moon, the American people should see the issue in the national security issue context. With the rising powers of China and India seeking the same limited resources in the Caspian Sea area and a resurgent Russia buoyed by abundant reserves of natural gas and crude oil, American leaders need to embrace the creation of an alternate transportation network based on electrified high-speed and light rail systems.
Instead of the corporate mass media trying to distract people with infotainment news stories like the Yankees visiting the White House, the press in America should be acting as the independent watch dog as envisioned by the U.S. Constitution and the first amendment and report on these types of stories with the same kind of enthusiasm.
Paul Scaglia is an Orange resident.
