It was on velonews.com the other day and made the front page of the papers today that the house subcommittee on transportation something-or-other has recommended some humongous spending package that cuts the entire budget for alternative transportation, including rail trails. This does not surprise me, as the government is currently controlled by a bunch of right-wing do-gooders who think what's good for big industry is good for everybody, but it is breathtaking in its contempt of the whole alternative movement, which has a considerable amount of popular support even amongst conservatives. Instead, they actually increase the proposed budget over what GW had requested in order to build more roads. This is comparable to the administration's stance on foreign oil, "let's go get more oil of our own" rather than "let's not use so much of it, since it's going to run out eventually anyway".



The problem with reading something like this is that here in bastion of liberalism, cradle of liberty that is Massachusetts there's not much to be done about it. railtrails.org recommends calling your congressman. Not much point in this state, since every one of them is a democrat and would vote against this bill just on principle anyway. While it's good to have your representative think the way you do, there aren't many national-type causes to rally behind that really end up getting much accomplished when you live here, because the whole Massachusetts delegation already thinks the way you do, and may in fact be more left-leaning than you are. It makes you wish (almost) that you lived in some state of flaming conservatives so you could feel like you were doing your part to shake things up and make your voice heard and your vote count yadda yadda yadda. Even in Illinois there's a fairly fluid oscillation between both parties representation, with Chicago usually being democrats and the rest of the state usually being republican (except for farmers), but it does tend to jump around.



It's also kind of disappointing that railtrails.org doesn't have anything better to suggest than "call your congressman" in the first place. Shouldn't they be asking for extra contributions to fund a major advertising blitz, or organizing a candlelight vigil or something? Maybe its too soon for that, and I'm inclined to think that there are enough level-headed people in the full committee to prevent this from getting any further anyway, but you never know for sure. It would be a sad thing indeed if all these plans for massive linkages of bike paths and rail trails were left to gather dust on the drawing boards, or left under construction and incomplete, while more and more money was spent to repave or widen roads so that more cars than ever can drive faster than ever on them, obviating the need for alternative transportation for a little while longer and forstalling the inevitable just that little smidgen extra, just like the whole oil thing, so that a bunch of clueless republicans can pat each other on the back and congratulate themselves on another victory for the American consumer.