But that’s getting to be old news. What’s new is that Streetsblog has a witty new voice in Ms. Schor. In addition to a surprising Secretary LaHood, that’s something else to cheer about.

Because he’s well-respected in conservative circles. We mustn’t forget that his opinion in this matter is probably shared by a great majority of Americans too–conservative AND liberal.

PS. There’s much to complain about in the “Great Society”, but comparing Hood’s transportation policies to that era of generous spending is dishonest at best. George Bush 2 spent more money than Johnson–not that Will necessarily agreed with it, but at least he spent it on things that conservatives generally approve of (wars, and handouts to the elderly).

“And long before climate change became another excuse for disparaging America’s ‘automobile culture,’ many liberal intellectuals were bothered by the automobile. It subverted their agenda of expanding government—meaning their—supervision of other people’s lives. Drivers moving around where and when they please? Without government supervision? Depriving themselves and others of communitarian moments on mass transit? No good could come of this.”

Drivers could never move around “where and when they please” without a massive investment in Big Government, shaping the very identity of Americans for generations (as people who drive to work, drive to shop, drive to recreate). “Once upon a time,” Will says, “government was supposed to defend the shores, deliver the mail and let people get on with their lives.” Well (if ever the case), that went out the window with the construction of the interstate system, all of which has altered our landscape and re-shaped our culture in shocking ways. As a small example, take Interstate 88, which runs from Albany to Binghamton. My grandma and grandpa used to live at 330 Main Street in Oneonta, NY until the government siezed their property through eminent domain to make way for an “arterial” road leading from the highway. I-88 destroyed the character of a beautiful small town, and the property siezure probably killed my grandfather (he died a year after his house was possessed, in 1972). And what do we get out of it? The freedom to go, whenever we please, between Albany and Binghamton on four wheels.

Ray LaHood is not talking about taking away anyone’s cars. He’s talking about rolling back the mandate that you drive two miles down the road to buy a bagel. Some may drive, some may bike, some may take the bus. That’s freedom.

But note that the Great Society also provided vast amounts of money for freeways, suburbs, and urban renewal projects that tore down existing neighborhoods and replaced them with tower-in-a-park projects.

See anyone can write bombast as good as Georgie Willy.

Post-WW2 mentality (leading to the highway building boom) was motivated considerably by the strategic concerns engendered by nuclear weapons and hence the original name for the project, “the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways.” Will probably believes that we feel safer knowing that we can escape nuclear destruction via four wheels. “Bush kept us safe and highways do too”?

It’s amazing what people are willing to willfully ignore when the money is coming their way. Which is why we are facing an institutional collapse. And it is only the second worst scenario out there.