by Tom J. Wheat
11/25/02
Every recession in the history of our nation has always stemmed from the reactionary political agitations of our elite classes who are overwhelmingly dependant upon Arab middle eastern oil futures to safeguard their wealth. Every economic collapse in this nation has stemmed from the attempt to regulate the free flow of commerce and energy shortages. Increasingly globalization advocates today tout the end of State BORDERS AND OBSTRUCTIONS to their pursuits of unlimited free trade profit. In reality, these corporations obstruct the free flow of commerce by fixing the technological demand so as to reflect their overwhelmingly stock invested oil dependency stock portfolios.
The reality of American freedom is Dostoevsky's paradox, they do not want real freedom, they just want bread-- so we must give it to them. This is inherently the problem of earthly and divine bread.
Of related interest: Dostoevsky's the Grand Inquisitor(http://www.bigeye.com/broskara.htm) The story of Dostoevsky's the Grand Inquisitor
The citizens are given no choice since the supply itself is fixed and the demand is articulated by the global village, the multi-media-industrial complex. Hence most americans like ostriches put their heads in the sand when faced with difficult choices which in a democracy theoretically is meant for them to decide, and yet since the modern corporate structure has evolved into a plutocracy, real choice and the option for change is denied.
California is the 5th largest economy in the world. Its current recession stems from the price fixing schemes of the cartel on Lamar and Alexander, i.e., the energy consortium of Houston, Texas and their backdoor foreign agitators, OPEC.
This is no surprise since California conducted a study in 1996 concerning the feasibility of maglev rapid transit. Strangely it seems the only radical thing that state and federal law makers can do to solve california's technological brain drain and traffic gridlock is to merely widen highway 101. This is inherently a self defeatist and reactionary solution that will only increase more pollution and increase traffic gridlock. Maglev is the radical and progressive solution to this problem.
here are the reasons for Maglev
1.) It decreases our fossil fuel dependence, is good for the environment and would allow for California to comply with the Kyoto climate air control treaty.
2.) This means that the US does not have be a 'tribute empire' i.e., enacting policies in foreign aid appropriation's subcommittees intended to enrich a limited constituent base that is predicated upon mutually sustained conflict in the middle east to facilitate a mythical view that there are unlimited supplies of fossil fuel, and that purple smog like hazes make for nice post cards. Inherently, The US most also address the class bias of its intelligentsia if it is to conduct meaningful reform in any of its economic sectors.
3.) Federal and State- sponsership of maglev mass rapid transit would bring back the manufacturing jobs sacrificed as a result of the industrial flight scheme by US MNC's. Industrial flight was a process that began as a result of the deregulation initiative begun in the 80's and culminating with the telecommunications act of 1996, and a chief cause of california's recent energy crisis. So why do globalization analysts chant deregulation as if it were their mantra? There is no rational reason for continuing the current platform that favors oil dependency.
Thus, is reasonable to suppose that the (multinational corporations: account for 2/3's of global trade) are all part of the feudal reactionary china lobby and its constituent member interests, i.e., the current free trade regime that favors oil dependency, and threatens nuclear proliferation or launch as means of extortion when ever there is an attempt to diversify our manufacturing technological and energy bases from any other system other than oil dependency. Consider the reality Gore's initiative, 10% across the board national alternative fuel base is what the public really wants, its just that their loyalty is not to the nation but to individual corporate fiefdoms, in which employment and advancement require a sacrifice of morals and more importantly reason.
4.)Lockheed Martin, Westinghouse Aerospace have also conducted feasibility studies on this subject as well. Since we lost the Boeing plant in Seattle, Maglev construction would also fill this void as well as provide good paying jobs for Californians. Its time we got a foothold on the energy market, and energy independence is preferable to fossil fuel dependence. see this link for more info:
For fuel cell research please see Westinghouse Aerospace Smart policy.org
5.)Japan's average maglev operational time delay is a miniscule 24 seconds.
excerpts:
"The recommended high-speed rail system serves over 90 percent of the population, encompassing California's major metropolitan areas: San Diego, Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Sacramento. " http://www.transitinfo.org/HSR/ex_sum.html
"Magnetic Levitation Systems (Maglev) Maglev systems are a completely new technology that departs from the wheel-rail system by using either attractive or repulsive magnetic forces to lift and propel the vehicles along a guideway. Because Maglev trains hover above a guideway, these systems create no friction or rolling resistance and are expected to travel at even higher speeds than steel-wheel-on-steel-rail systems. There are no high-speed Maglev systems operating in revenue service anywhere in the world. However, both Germany and Japan have been developing and testing Maglev prototypes on test facilities for many years and are planning revenue producing Maglev systems that could begin construction later in this decade." .(http://www.cahighspeedrail.ca.gov/business_plan/pdfs/bus_plan_1.pdf)
cost: intial construction costs would require 3-5 billion dollars. Imagine a trip from san Francisco to LA in 2.5 hours. Now also imagine the reality that you are no longer putting money in the hands of dictator's and hypocritical de-regulatory type free trade expansionists.
"Engineering and Technical. High-speed rail is feasible from a technical standpoint, even with California's unique geographic and seismic challenges. Numerous alternatives have been refined to address these challenges, and the cost estimates account for the higher cost of construction in our state."
"Environmental. Because no "fatal flaws" have been discovered to date, there is no evidence to suggest that high speed rail is infeasible from an environmental standpoint. Cost estimates of system construction include costs for mitigating currently known environmental impacts."
"Political. High-speed rail can be politically feasible in California if the system concept is properly presented by its proponents and well-understood by the public. Voters in the past have agreed to tax themselves for transportation and other worthwhile public infrastructure projects. If the broad and significant benefits of this project can be communicated to the public, political support could be achieved. "
"The Commission focused on systems capable of maximum operating speeds of at least 200 mph, selecting the electric traction Very High Speed (VHS) and magnetic levitation (Maglev) technology families for further consideration."
"The system's conceptual financing plan benefits from assumed net freight revenues of $20 million per year."
routes: "Early findings led the Commission to narrow the focus of the study to alignments within the State Route 99 corridor (SR-99) through the Central Valley, rather than the Interstate 5 corridor through the Valley, or a coastal alignment. In addition to alignment variations within the SR-99 Corridor, the Commission also studied options involving different mountain passes, service to urban areas, and system extensions beyond Los Angeles or San Francisco. Although the Commission is making the following corridor-level recommendations, the final selection of an alignment is dependent upon preliminary engineering, final design, and the environmental clearance process. " source:
Source: http://www.transitinfo.org/HSR/ex_sum.html
Everybody wants to look and feel like a revolutionary, but when it comes to true rhetorical praxis its better to look the part then actually live the good life.
California it follows--so goes the nation. We have an opportunity in which we can take the initiative and set the standard for progressive policies since the state has a true democratic majority. Revolutionizing our transportation methods will increase the state's productivity, provide more jobs and more investment dividends than the current system that favors fossil fuel dependency.
Historically the efforts to defeat mass rapid transit systems began during and after WWII. This nepotism has a historical pattern that mirrors the same attempts by carriage manufacturers of the early 20th century's who attempted to defeat the henry ford model T method of mass production. Hence today it is now the oil dependency SUV cartel that now seeks to defeat new methods of innovation and technological diversification which although fatally flawed in rhetoric, nonetheless requires us to make them the agents of change willingly or unwillingly, since all our citizens along with the corporations require R& D as the precursor to true global and civilizational progress.
We are now at a critical period in this new century where we must truly build a bridge to this century now that we have finally arrived full circle in rhetoric, and the apex or strength of American empire becomes increasingly challenged. Hence now is the time to not let fear and ignorance be the great divider of this nation. Rather since the pursuit of wealth is an inalienable right granted to all, then rather we should seek to at least mitigate that by implementing a maglev mass rapid transit system. This is also inherently guaranteed and required by the Constitution that their be no obstructions to the'free flow of commerce.'
This new technology platform would truly eliminate the obstructions to free commerce, and solve our pollution problems. We can do this by advancing the Gore initiative, i.e., by implementing a 10% national alternative fuel source initiative instead of the lame ass idea: make the rich richer, supply side scheme of a 10% across the board tax cut that will only encourage more of our MNC friends to export their manufacturing bases overseas in regimes that do not profess the same ideals that we hold as universal rather this is just a red herring for the statement that human liberty and freedom are relative where we wish to find it, to be meaningful for us and exclusionary for another.
Remember LA during the energy crisis, they actually had a power surplus because the city owned and controlled the utilities in that area. California should spearhead this a potential national initiative, as well as for geostrategic mutual defense issues as well as a means to restore productivity to the American manufacturing base. Inherently all of these facets are interconnected.
We say that the world does not share our values and I tell you America is but a microcosm of the world and so goes the world, and that ideal is ultimately expressed by the Atlantic Charter, the document that created the United Nations. Self Determination is that unalienable right, and 3 hours to wait in traffic is a terrible waste of worker productivity, encourages oil dependency, and essentially encourages the root cause of terrorism: support for repressive regimes to safeguard the unchallenged supply of global oil.
The Great Satan is oil, and it has soiled the dialogue of debate just as much as its fumes retard our children when they grow up next to oil refineries. Can a nation as large as ours with its international and domestic committments-- can it long endure with its head in the sand. Emphatically, no it cannot.
Our fossil fuel dependency is nothing more than a recipe for self destruction. We must not view sustainability to be some vague philosophical concept we only ponder on sunday or when we shop mindlessly without regard for how those luxuries are produced and at what cost it comes to the environment. This current behavior makes us no different then the Corinthians of antiquity or more so recently an analogy could be drawn historically, to that state of passive acceptance of the current national energy policy strategy which is akin to the collective denial Germany sustained after WWII.
How can we profess to be a pluralistic society, when in reality we have always had the same objectives as the Nazi's did before us, domination of the world's oil supplies. Like Roosevelt said, The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." We must be open to change. The children of tommorrow are counting on us to have their best inerests in mind. Shall we leave the world in the condition that is in now, one that favoirs no solution rather trojan horse arguments that favor no improvement. This would be an abomination, and a pox on all creation to treat the willful neglect and lack of responsibility of our leaders and to attribute it a classical response as one of God's play,' be damned if you do, damned if you don't. Well then what is it going to be folks, hell on earth for our children all so we can have the illusion of temporary luxury.