Rails to Trails: The sweetener on top of a dying nation

In small towns and large cities across the nation city planners have been touting their “great successes” in converting abandoned rail lines to recreational trails. That appears to be a great thing to do – make good use of miles of unused right of way for walking and bicycling.  Great!  Let’s recreate!

But on the other and, this is like making a BBQ pit from the leftover bricks from your bombed out house.  Sad, really.

No! Neither trails nor BBQ pits make things better – not compared to what was given up. They are both a misleading salve over a bad situation – the urban planning version of making a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.  But the poor pig is dead!  Like the violin music that helps lift the spirits just before the Titanic goes down.

And no, abandoned rail lines are not the result of advances in transportation or advances in technology. They are a sign of our economic decline.  We don’t yet have transponders that send kilotons of dry goods from point A to point B. Trucking is not the most cost effective mode of transportation for things we don’t produce anymore.

That’s the problem:  Things we don’t produce anymore.

With Nixon’s trip to China in 1972, we began to offshore production to reduce costs to American consumers. That was the beginning of the US transition from a producer nation to a consumer nation.  From a productive nation to a recreating nation – getting fatter, happier, and lazier as a result.

We thought that was great for over 50 years.  Cheaper stuff:  Yaaa!  More recreation:  Yippee! Fatter and happier:  You betcha!

But we were like the proverbial frog in the pot…the water temperature has risen.  And now we find ourselves beholden to nations we are beginning to fear for essential goods, from pharmaceuticals to electronic components. and a thousand other things most are yet unaware of.

So what happens when most of the products we depend on come from a nation we begin to fear and becomes one of our top three enemies? Is it too late to wean our way off our dependence on those wonderful lower prices and fill the void of strategically important components?

Rails to trails:  A symbol of a nation that got itself into an economic death spiral.

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[A little levity:  Is it possible that the the 1961 song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” was prescient, giving a coded economic/fiscal message with the lyric “Wimoweh” really meaning“wean our way” while the Lion sleeps. It was sung by The Tokens after all.  OK, very little.]

The argument for doing A LOT more in Ukraine

Up till now, the US, NATO and all the nations of Europe have been intimidated by Russia from taking effective military action to help defend Ukraine. The West’s excuse to stand down:  “Oh, but Russia has nukes.”  So, when do we hand over the keys to our spooked and intimidate house? This is Russian nuclear blackmail.

Sure, allies have provided humanitarian assistance to refugees and belated shipments of armaments are being sent to Ukraine.  We have imposed “sanctions” against various aspects of Russia’s economy – which by the way – our government admitted could take months to have any significant impact. And even with that tepid response, Putin has declared these sanctions to be a “declaration of war.”

So, if these actions are already considered by Russia “a declaration of war”, while doing little to slow Russia’s advance, shouldn’t we do a hell of a lot more?

Yes.  Russia has nukes.  Does that give the West an excuse to ignore Russia’s killing of thousands in their reign of destruction upon innocent nations? How long will the West dally? Is the West to lay down and become militarily comatose?  It has become obvious to most who are paying attention that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a continuation of their advance toward their former USSR glory days.  Russia has already taken Georgia and a southern chunk of Ukraine (Crimea).  There are many more sovereign nations in Russia’s sights:  Moldova, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Romania, and Finland.

So, are there any good reasons to call Russia’s bluff, get a spine and militarily join the fight?

Here are the consequences of the West remaining unengaged militarily in Ukraine:

• Russia continues its blitz, its bombardment, its killing and destruction of Ukraine.
• The humanitarian crises worsens.
• Russia is emboldened, knowing the West will do little to defend itself.
• Russia continues on its trek to invade and consume other neighbor nations.
• Seeing the West’s lack of resolve, China is emboldened to take over Taiwan and further advance in the Pacific.
• The West endorses its own moral failure to defend other peaceful nations against unprovoked attack. We become complicit in our passivity.

Yes, NATO needs to establish a “no fly zone” over Ukraine.  Yes, NATO needs to destroy Russian columns threatening Ukraine’s cities.  Yes, the West needs to prepare for various counter attacks from Russia.

How about we stop being merely observers and commentators as if we were watching a bunch of Christians in the Roman Coliseum being slaughtered for sport.

Remaining passive during this sort of unprovoked attack on a peaceful neighbor is both a moral lapse and a precursor to Western suicide.

Post script:

There are those who are simply “hand-ringing”, asking “what can we really do? We can’t really do anything.”

There are those who are doing “as much as they can do” without “poking the bear”, meaning doing as little as possible while being substantially ineffective.

There are those who urge us to stay out of it, warning it is none of our business.

And there is a growing number saying we MUST act militarily, Russian intimidation be damned.

Which of these do I believe the Biden administration will follow?  All but the last.  They are too invested in the US becoming a 2nd world nation via their emphasis on “climate change”, killing fossil fuel production, promoting multiple genders, and open borders.