Less is More - So Much More

I don't get it......

Here we are as a nation, hobbled and utterly dependent upon a fossil fuel transportation system that has shown itself to be completely insane, inadequate and inefficient.

Early in our nations history, the electric streetcar systems in major cities were junked, in favor of gasoline powered buses.

That these changes were initiated by GM and Chevron is documented. The reasons behind the changes are self-evident. Follow the money, as always.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist (although we have plenty around here) to figure out that we've made bad choices in the past.

What causes me deep regret is that we continue to make the kinds of choices we do. When I say "we" I refer to the publicly elected officials that are, I suppose, representing the will of the people. If in fact that's true, that the politicians are representing our will, lets ask ourselves why are we the people so ignorant?

Example:

The newly elected mayor of our fair city recently took his "first" ride on the local public transportation system. Hmmmm.... Seems to reflect a disconnect between officialdom and publicdom. However, interestingly enough, within weeks of his initiation into the joy of our bus system, comes the front page announcement in the local paper " Bus Fares To Double". Hmmmm Ok..... I guess that must mean that the representatives of the peoples will, have realized that we need to increase our astonishingly low bus fares in order to increase the quality of our astonishingly poor bus service...... Hmmmm..... that would seem fair.

But I'm afraid not. The article goes on to say that the fares must be increased to "maintain the current level of service". Hmmmm..... how bizarre is that? That's scary...

But I wonder why there's no aggressive implementation of public transportation.

How are we spending our money?

Are we spending it on public transportation? Or, are we spending tens, hundreds of millions of dollars on new courthouses and government buildings,so that we can deal with some of the fallout of our bad decisions. Bad decisions that lead to the outrageous costs of failing to do something so obvious, simple, and relatively inexpensive, as high efficiency public transportation.

Suppose we were to invest in a state of the art, highly efficient, highly effective public transportation system. That could cost a few million dollars. What would happen?

Or, suppose we don't. Suppose we just stumble ahead, charging people (in economic crisis) more and more money for the same inadequate service. If we continue to spend less on causes and more on symptoms, we actually get more.

We get more:

More cars on the road.
More auto insurance money leaving the local pocket for megalithic insurance companies on wall street (that are by the way MORE and MORE likely to default).
More gas money leaving local pockets for giant oil companies.
Wear and tear on the roads. More poor/dangerous road conditions.
More maintenance expenses.
More toxic chemicals in landfills, in runoff to the river, and in the air.
More air pollution. More traffic congestion. More road rage. More accidents.
More speeding through school zones. More drunk driving.
More offenders (major and minor) to process.
More police, sheriff and state trooper cars/trucks and fuel to apprehend and transport more offenders.
More money spent on more courthouses and government buildings and personnel.
More insurance rate hikes.
More people in hospitals, more in prisons, in jails, on probation and parole.
More work time lost in going to court and or jail.
More money spent on lawyers.
More sheriffs and police and jails and jail personnel.
More aids and More hepatitis and More tuberculosis contracted during incarceration. More opportunity to freely distribute these diseases to the community at large.
More families torn apart.
More people without insurance,or licenses to drive.
More people without licenses forced to drive illegally to work, school, hospital.
More offenders to apprehend and process.
More limits to employment by having More people with criminal records.
More time spent waiting at the Motor Vehicles Dept.
More unhealthy people who simply lack a little exercise who can't safely ride a bike.
More stress because of it.
More reluctance to ride bicycles because the traffic is so dangerous.
More people spending more money on cars they can't afford.
More young people being taught to believe that they are only as cool as their rides. More bankruptcy. More lost work hours. More inability to repay loans.
More stress in meeting mortgage payments. More foreclosures. More homelessness. More burdens on social services. More stress. More drinking. More drunk driving. More repossessions. More borrowing from payday lenders. More defaults.
More people driving illegally. More people driving unsafe cars.
More children exposed to second hand smoke, trapped in cars with smokers.
More asthma. More heart disease. More unemployment.
More emergency room visits. More drug abuse. More stress. More medical bills.
More chances to drive home from the bar drunk rather than ride the bus.
More unpaid bills. More overburdening of local and state health systems and costs. More rage. More drinking. More drunk driving. More stress. More domestic violence. More sick kids who'd walk to the bus or bike, if the roads were safe for kids on bikes. More obesity. More driving while texting or talking on the phone.
More isolation from neighbors/community members. More family budget drain. More stress. More rage. More money lost to auto fuel, repair, registration.
More consumption of gasoline and oil. More poverty. More hunger. More theft.
More burglary. More crime. More criminals. More victims.
More enslavement to auto and oil corporations.
More debt for auto style and status. More anger.
More money stripped away from theatre, dance, music, education, food, heating bills, shoes, books, schools, libraries. More money taken away from counseling, parenting programs, programs for the disadvantaged, the young and the elderly.
More burden on overburdened families. More ignorance. More stress. More rage.
More class-ism taught, via expensive cars as symbols of wealth and personal worth. More damaged self esteem for those who can't afford fancy cars. More rage.
More prime farmland and potential parks and community land, committed to sprawling car dealerships.
More prejudice, distance and anger between those with more, and those with less, as measured by how nice a car you drive.

And frankly there's more..... much much more.... but this is a good start on the list of how much more we receive when our fearless leaders spend less developing and operating a rational public transportation system, and more on policing and punishing the social ills that result from policies that weaken our economy, our freedom and our dignity. We spend thousands of times more for the problems that they encourage, than the solutions we could implement.

It may be easy for small minded bureaucrats to dismiss this thinking as coming from eco-nuts who hate cars and think that public transportation will save America and the world...... That's not true........ It is true that the enormous time and financial burdens that result from not having good public transportation contribute to these social ills in ways much more profoundly and far reaching than average people want to think about. But our leaders are supposedly above average thinkers. That's one of the requirements of leadership..... Right?

Good public transportation alone will not save the world. But any rational thinker can see that good public transportation provides an outstanding step in the right direction and returns phenomenal value for the dollar. I dare say a 10,000 to 1 ratio describes how much more value a dollar spent on public transportation has, over a dollar spent on more courthouses and jails.

Wake up folks...... we're sinking with our of "band-aid thinking".

We need to learn how to bail and row this boat together. The above described costs and impacts are not imagined. This is reality. It's playing out every day and growing. Ask the cops, the judges, the lawyers, the D.A's office, the hospitals, the school teachers. Ask the probation and parole officers. Ask the guards at overcrowded prisons. Ask the businesses. Ask the banks. Read the police blotter. Ask the state and local road crews. Ask the state and local budget offices. Ask the people who are broke. Ask the ones that are going broke. Ask the bankruptcy lawyers. Ask the "repo" men. Ask the debt collectors. Ask the priests and pastors. Ask the daycare personnel. Ask the graffiti removal squad. Ask the drug and alcohol treatment facilitators. Ask the aid to families programs. Ask all these people if something as simple as an efficient public transportation system, could keep enough money in our economy to help mitigate these problems. Ask whether more money and more mobility would improve the quality of life for all people of all social and economic stratas.

Will a 21st century public transportation system solve all the problems of humanity? Of course not. But simple things make big differences. Does it make more sense than spending on ever growing, ever more expensive courthouses and bureaucracies, police and judicial and jail and prison budgets, that are already inadequate by the time they're approved, and over-budget long before they're built?

Does it make sense to start addressing the causes of our social disorders rather than pouring never ending (and ever more scarce) budget resources into band-aiding the symptoms? Could something as obvious and simple as a functioning public transportation system make a difference? Could it save enough money to make a difference. Yes. Build an alternative while you still have the time and resources. If you're truly leaders.

Or hell , just keep dumping the bodies of the victims of our social and economic failures, onto the burning, toxic and explosive trash heap of "Private For Profit" jails and prisons. Let the men, women and children who've been failed by their leadership go on paying the price.