tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11349941.post1791868216273577928..comments2023-08-16T03:56:19.093-07:00Comments on The Snail Shell: God, this is going to be embarrassing if swine flu DOES become a big dealDanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03312048754374286109noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11349941.post-30067042882115036192009-05-01T12:08:00.000-07:002009-05-01T12:08:00.000-07:00Argh! Good try. You almost got me talking politics...Argh! Good try. You almost got me talking politics again. I think I'm a pretty okay debater who checks facts relatively well, but not well enough to effectively convince anyone who already strongly disagrees with me, and thanks to super divisive politics in the last decade, we are all super divided on everything, so an actual debate would probably be fruitless.<br /><br />(I think the guy in that article actually throws his hat in with the capital-c conservatives. Whatever.)<br /><br />Thanks for the comment anyway! Good parts of public transit make me happy still, so my comment remains unchanged, but when I bring up something that asks for debate, I like a debate! I'll try to keep (non-food) politics out of it.Danhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03312048754374286109noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11349941.post-4925094838105862552009-05-01T00:52:00.000-07:002009-05-01T00:52:00.000-07:00Mmmm...I'm not particularly sure how that article ...Mmmm...I'm not particularly sure how that article shows that mass transit is not "liberal wackiness". To me, it reads like a liberal trying to use what he thinks are conservative axioms to get to the conclusion he wants about transportation policy. That's not the same as a conservative actually making the case. Of course, the essay contains no actual analysis; it's just a bunch of hand-waving to construct a chain that sounds like a bad result.<br /><br />There's probably a diversity of opinion among conservatives, and certainly transportation rights of way are to some extent public goods. But the natural tendency of conservatives should be toward a smaller national government, so I doubt there will be many conservative cheers about the opportunity to direct national policy that way.<br /><br />Coyote blog has some interesting analysis (with some numbers) of various light rail situations. One interesting post:<br /><br />http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2009/01/light-rail-and-energy-use.html<br /><br />Or a category in general:<br /><br />http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/category/rail-and-mass-transit<br /><br />Of course, that is a libertarian blog, so there will be a lot more antipathy to government intervention than a conservative blog.DKHnoreply@blogger.com