Krugman: "Oh, boy — this George Will column is truly bizarre"

[ProSense]

Krugman: Dagny Taggart Wept

Oh, boy — this George Will column (via Grist) is truly bizarre:

So why is America’s “win the future” administration so fixated on railroads, a technology that was the future two centuries ago? Because progressivism’s aim is the modification of (other people’s) behavior.

Forever seeking Archimedean levers for prying the world in directions they prefer, progressives say they embrace high-speed rail for many reasons—to improve the climate, increase competitiveness, enhance national security, reduce congestion, and rationalize land use. The length of the list of reasons, and the flimsiness of each, points to this conclusion: the real reason for progressives’ passion for trains is their goal of diminishing Americans’ individualism in order to make them more amenable to collectivism.

<...>

And there’s the bit about rail as an antiquated technology; try saying that after riding the Shanghai Maglev.

But anyway, it’s amazing to see Will — who is not a stupid man — embracing the sinister progressives-hate-your-freedom line, more or less right out of Atlas Shrugged; with the extra irony, of course, that John Galt’s significant other ran, well, a railroad.

Conservatives are all jumping on the lunacy bandwagon.

[CTyankee]

1. Does anyone still believe that George Will writes ANY of this stuff?

He has a staff which I am sure comes up with his column. Then he parrots it when he is on a Sunday talk show.

[hatrack]

20. More to the point, does anyone still care about anything Will says or writes or thinks?

He's rapidly becoming the Paul Harvey of Beltway politics - clueless, cranky, isolated and STUPID.

[CTyankee]

21. I agree with you but the Sunday talk shows that have him on didn't get the memo...

which makes them look pretty stupid...

[olegramps]

22. George Will is a pompous ass with a worn out Thesaurus.

He empresses ignoramuses by searching through his trusty Thesaurus for some obscure word to include in his worthless utterances. Anyone who has read his drivel soon realizes that he contradicts himself because he blows with the wind. He is a shallow little asshole at best.

[TomClash]

2. What a moran

Wheat, timber, coal and most other natural resources move by rail in this country. You can't have trade without transportation.

[tularetom]

3. I disagree - Will IS a stupid man

It's him and his buds who are clinging to an antiquated 20th century technology - the use of fossil fuels to propel automobiles using inefficient internal combustion engines.

[mochajava666]

9. Your right - a complete idiot

After reading some of his total disregard for science and logic when it comes to global warming and evolution, one can only conclude that he is simply an idiot with a larger than average vocabulary.

[nxylas]

29. "An idiot with a larger than average vocabulary"

That describes about 90% of the pundit class.

[mochajava666]

31. I can't argue with that. Good point.

[EC]

4. Idiot, Georgie boy has gotten too old fokey

to keep writing...how about trains are cheaper than planes and will get us where we are going within a couple hours of a plane? Or how about sitting in 3-4 lanes of bumper to bumper every night is getting old and taking years from my life when in reality I likely don't have more than 10-20 years left. Or how about pollution, since we all seem to like to breathe?

And industry. Remember we Yanks won the Civil War because we could move supplies around i.e. rail.

[Arkana]

5. We're not fucking talking about steam engines, Captain Bow Tie.

The mag-lev and high-speed rail are absolutely the future of mass transit.

[Yavin4]

6. Is Paying $6+ A Gallon Also Being Individualistic?

Cause that price is coming real soon. Maybe this year. I guess going bankrupt is being an individual.

[blue neen]

7. If you ask me, it's that ridiculous wig that he wears that is really antiquated.

:shrug:

[southernyankeebelle]

8. Republicans will disagree until they get a republican president and then they will do it and

take the credit. Republicans don't give a damn about working people.

SUPPORT A UNION.

[patrice]

10. As though no one can possibly be an "individual" except in terms dictated by George Will et al

:crazy:

[Puzzler]

11. By his logic, cars are antiquated too...

... since they're over a century old.

But I guess Will would argue that cars have evolved over the last century. Newsflash Will: so have trains!

[Major Hogwash]

12. George Will is not stupid, he's an asshole, bought and paid for by his pals of the GOP

Just like Robert D. Novak was.

[olegramps]

23. Novak, who outed Plame, was especially revolting. Good riddance.

[Bake]

13. In other words, Will would prefer us to drive alone in big honkin' SUVs.

Mass transit = evil collectivism.

What an idiot.

Bake

[ReggieVeggie]

14. George WIll: The Collectivist Nature of the 4:30 to Staten Island

These people and their fear of socialism. For Will, it will only get worse as he gets older.

[Overseas]

15. K&R for calling out that jerk George Will! //nt

[Honeycombe8]

16. Wow. That IS stupid. (Will, not Krugman) nt

[fishwax]

18. indeed

hard to figure much else to say about it.

[RichGirl]

17. Interesting....

I once sat next to George Will at Union Station in DC. He was waiting for a train...just like me.

[olegramps]

24. Hope you didn't catch Stupid Disease.

[Dawson Leery]

19. George, the rest of the developed world has high speed rail.

George Will is still wed to the gas guzzling commute to the suburbs which is only making those with stock in the oil monopolies (as well as the Saudis) wealthier.

[Vogon_Glory]

28. Of Course By The Wing-Nut Political Calculus, They're ALL Socialist, Too! n/t

[Enthusiast]

25. 'Lunacy bandwagon' is a good term. nt

[Ganja Ninja]

26. George Will is right.

The time to build a rail system is not now. We should wait 15 or 20 years until we're all standing in line to by gas at $10 to $15 a gallon and you can only get 5 or 10 gallons because that's all you're allowed to by at one time. And really why start early? How much more will it cost us to wait? Things will only get cheaper in the future.
:banghead: :crazy:

[Vogon_Glory]

27. George Will Climbing On A Creaky OLD Bandwagon

George Will is climbing on a creaky OLD right-wing/"fibbertarian" bandwagon. He's mostly repeating right-wing propaganda points that have been in circulation for years.

What's interesting are all the inconvenient facts that Will and his ilk choose to ignore. Those roadways that carry those motorists Will praises were built and paid for by taxpayers like you and me. And, since maintenance and upkeep are no more the "Amurrican" right wing's forte than maintenance and upkeep are the forte of all too many Third World kleptocrats, the bill for long-overdue maintenance, repair, and replacement is coming due. Either American truckers and motorists are going to have to do without those highways where the bridges have collapsed, the pavement collapsed into sinkholes, or miles of highway has washed into creeks and gullies, or money is going to have to be found to repair and replace what we've already got as well as pay for new construction.

I won't go into the GM and the National City Lines matter. I'm skeptical that GM actually INTENDED to destroy numerous streetcar lines to force people to depend on autos and buses, but that seems to have been the result, intended or not, of the National City Lines era.

What I do know, as do many DU'ers, is that gas prices have been fluctuating wildly these last few years. Will's "fibbertarian" odes to the individual auto ring somewhat hollow as gas prices go up a dollar or two a gallon as crisis occur and speculators get rich and the oppressed middle class gets it in the teeth again.

Will also ignores the success of many light rail systems around the country, as does Cato. Those light rail systems are not only inspiring a market-driven densification (something else right wingie-dingies ignore) but transit hubs placed near long distance passenger train terminals greatly alter those bogus percentage densities Will and Cato like to sling around.

What is more likely to fluctuate in price: rail passenger tickets where the motive power runs from the electric grid, or gasoline prices in the private sector?

[Yavin4]

30. Let's Be Truly Honest, Shall We? Conservatives Hate Mass Transit

Because they fear sitting next to someone of color.

[Ramulux]

32. What does high-speed rail...

have to do with individualism and collectivism? I literally dont understand what hes talking about.

[Vogon_Glory]

33. Will Regurgitating Ayn Rand Ca-Ca

George Will is regurgitating old Ayn Rand ca-ca. Rand didn't like mass transit either. Neither Rand nor Will seem to have noticed that the urban landscape has been changed by such phenomena as limited parking availability, traffic congestion, and other inconvenient details that real-life motorists dealing with big city traffic have to face.

Will's paean to individualism also rings rather hollow when you think about the multiple indignities many DU'ers go through when we fly from one airport to another.