Is This a Great Country or What?
Just before Easter, I brought a vehicle to my son down in Florida. The whole enterprise, including the return, took all of 30 hours. During that time I experienced many of the marvels of a country and its system that for all of their current challenges remain the most impressive on earth.
The drive was about 750 miles, and began in Mason, Ohio. Over 600 of those miles were on interstate highways. Several decades ago, a Wall Street Journal editorial angered public transportation zealots by asserting in essence that autos, trucks, and the highways and roads that support them represent the single greatest mass transit system ever devised. Though there’s always room for improvement, I don’t see how anyone can reasonably disagree. The drive itself took only 12 hours, point to point — no nodes, no tolls, and virtually no hassles.
Given that it’s springtime, there were, of course, a few construction delays, particularly in the hilly section between Cincinnati and Louisville. Otherwise, traffic moved nicely and safely at — or slightly above — the posted speed limit, which was usually 70. (Governor John Kasich in Ohio, where only the Ohio Turnpike has this limit, please note!)
It’s been over a decade since I’ve driven the stretch of I-65 between Louisville and Nashville. I barely recognized much of it. Most of the “country” stretch between Louisville and Nashville was three lanes wide in each direction. Before that, the Metro Louisville portion of the trip revealed a robustly growing area. Sure enough, according to the 2010 census, Jefferson County’s population increased by almost 7% during the past decade, while the majority of urban counties in Ohio, most notably Cuyahoga and Hamilton, suffered significant declines. Nashville’s highway improvements since I was last there have been simply stunning, but they need to be; Davidson County has grown by 10%.
I stayed at a well-appointed hotel south of Nashville whose brand was synonymous with the word “dive” not that long ago. Since the directions seemed to conflict with the hotel’s address, I had to call the place from the road on my cell phone to clear things up. An effort which would have been expensive or involved a separate stop for a pay phone just 15 years ago now cost me nothing. Does anyone think that the old AT&T monopoly would ever have evolved to this point without the competition from entrepreneurial upstarts in the long-distance and wireless businesses? Or that it would have thought up the type of “friends and family” plans that gave me about an hour of free talk time during the trip?
It’s a science fiction world. Think about SF novels from the 1950s and what you just did.
Great article and give my thanks to your son for his service to our great country.
Neat stuff. But I’m sure Obama won’t rest until we all enjoy the same crummy, government-run, bureaucracy that is supposed to supply us with these same services. Yup, things sure will be “better” when that happens. After all, unless EVERYBODY has access to the same services you enjoyed, that wouldn’t be “fair,” right? Time to re-distribute the wealth again, I guess.
“these same services”?
Obama: That is a lie. I never promised “these same services” or any services. We Americans have consumed more than our fair share of the world’s riches, we should give back… so my friends and families and cronies and tin pot dictators can have more without lifting a finger. America should not drill more oil to pollute more air so my sugar daddy Soros can supply us with expensive Brazil oil courtesy of my $20 billion American taxpayers’ stimulus… and my friend Al Gore can supply us with non-existing Spanish solar energy with our $2 billion investments. Oh, we are the only rich country which does not have super fast super bullet trains, we must stimulate that…
The apparatchiki get the good stuff, while the proles suffer through the 21st century equivalent of Intourist when they want to go anywhere.
We already see that in our airports. Obozo flies on Air Force One or Marine One; the limousine liberals who paid for his political campaigns fly in private jets; the rest of us get sexually molested by the TSA and packed like sardines into the plane. There isn’t even enough room for us to get past the other passengers to get to the toilet in flight.
We live in an amazing world. My dad was born in 1917 in a coal camp in eastern KY. His first ride in a car happened when he was 12. I remember his reaction in 1969 when he watched men walking on the moon. I graduated from high school in 1972, and it was a different world then. The technological advances in the past century are stunning.
We can’t stand by and allow obama and his minions to reduce us to the level of life in Afghanistan. We should be focusing on raising their living standard, not lowering ours.
“single greatest mass transit system ever devised”
You must not have traveled much in Scandinavia, Germany.
Most of your paean is to entrepeneurship, private sector competition, deregulated telecommunications — NOT our 50+ year old ground transport system (trains, use 80 year old), that was done by Eisenhower for national defense, he being in awe of what the Germans had done with their autobahns.
Lesson? That we’re a great country anymore? The lesson from your article is merely that free markets and free minds and strong national defense had given us everything we ever had — and that’s not happening much anymore.
Yes, it is a great country — but not because of its government. Yet politicians will eagerly seize the credit for as much of that greatness as they think they can get away with, well beyond the bounds of plausibility. One of the lessons we who prize freedom must learn is that it is morally imperative to whack such a front-runner across the snout — don’t overdo it; a rolled-up newspaper is sufficient — upon the instant he makes such a claim.
If we don’t want to live in Atlas Shrugged’s world, we can’t allow the Takers to take credit for the achievements of the Makers.
The South is amazing but I know I’m back home when I pull into the Pennsylvania rest stop on I-95 and see chains securing the picnic tables.
What a subliminally brilliant statement! Perhaps the only thing that could top that is a trip through California’s central valley. Please brush up on your Spanglish first!
Great article Mr. Blumer.
Not long ago I was taking a friend from Charlottesville to Dulles Airport. His flight left very early in the morning. We stopped at a red light on certain intersection of route 29. It was 3:00 AM. There were nothing but fields on both sides. One could see clearly there were no policemen looking. Yet we stopped and patiently waited for our green light.
That may not seem like much to many but I have lived in many other parts of the world and I can assure you that red light would not stop anyone in Spain, Italy, or Brazil at 3:00 AM (no offense, just the way things are.) It made me think that we are a country of laws in a very profound way.
Many of the marvels we enjoy –if not all– derive from the goodness and industriousness of the American people: a country under God.
Thank your son in my behalf for his service. May God keep him safe at all times.
And thank you for your article. If this is “decline” I am sure many around the world would like to come and decline with us.
It wouldn’t have stopped them in New York either…I was told off by a policeman for NOT walking during a red light. Apparently, I was blocking pedestrians who wanted to walk while I was waiting for the light to turn green.
A few years ago when my family visited Brazil (Salvador, in the north west, great trip, lovely beaches, friendly people) we were told the reason no one stops at red lights at night is because they risk carjacking if they do.
Oops, meant north east.
What you said about stereotypes of the South being out of date is so true. A few years ago I visited Atlanta from California for the first time and was expecting to see something a little above tar paper shacks all over the place, but was blown away by how vastly superior the housing and neighborhoods there are to what we have here on the West coast.
Catino,
I second everything you said. However, one aspect of American life has declined: correct grammatical usage. Mr. Blumer should review the distinction between “brought” and “took.”
Ridgerunner,
Being a butcher of the noble English language myself I would not dare to correct anyone but I learned from your observation. In my defense I must say this is the fourth language I was forced to learn — my old neurons are too tired for this but struggle to improve!
Some have resigned themselves to the inevitable. In the words of a friend of mine: “Bad English has become the universal language.”
I ask forgiveness for my grammatical sins and those of others.
Catino, if English is not your native language, I’ll gladly give you a pass for mistakes on some of the finer points. You’re doing very well as it is.
For those for whom English is their mother tongue, NO MERCY!
Mark V,
I rather take equality under the law instead of your kind equal opportunity equalizer. NO MERCY for me too! That is the only way to learn. I am a true Conservative and I aspire to excel. No more, no less. Bring it on!
Interesting distinction. Glad you “brought” it to my attention. Thank you.
APPLAUSE!
Interesting observations of what constitutes “great’ in the eyes of some. Does not ‘in comparison too’ have any relevency anymore?
In comparison to many countries our highway systems, its routes and ease of use is great. However, in comparison to what our systems use to be in terms of land preservation, roadway conditions and upgrades, it leaves a good deal to be desired.
Coast-to-coast and border-to-border the original systems are crumbling and in a hodge podge of needed and repair states while the metropolitan cancer centers of America spend and spend federal government funds to serve those areas. Bridges regardless of location are old and crumbling. Repairs are done with cheap engineering and materials and folks doing the work with extemely poor work ethics and pride in craftsmanship. Lets not forget that the federal government has robbed the highway funds just as it did the social security funds and never spent it on the intended purpose. Likewise, the rail system is horribly inadequate and now a high cost to maintain. There are no dedicated rail systems poutside the metro lines for passenger service around the nation…they share rails with freight lines and progress onlong on the trip with freight having rail priority. Air is another horrible problem with very outdated controls systems, labor problems and crowded terminals of bad and aging deterioration.
I for one, remember the times it was all so much more great!
…but we need those hundred billions of roads repair, bridges repair money to fund our bullet trains that only our betters, the far sighted president and Congress know we need…we have to catch up with the Japanese, the Europeans, and the Chinese in building the most advance 20th century conveyance…
The consequences of 200 cancer city area’s who ‘make nothing’ to contribute directly to the nations economy, sucking America dry.
We’ve become a nation of a centralized government, centralized economies and centralized populations who makes essentially nothing and essentially only ‘takes & uses’ the nations resources in these times.
Fun stuff, but I wish you would have mentioned early on what region of Florida you were taking the car. We lived in Cincinnati before moving to Mississippi and I had a devil of a time figuring out why you were going through Louisville and Nashville!
Thank your son for his service!
Eglin AFB is in the Florida Panhandle.
Taking I-75 South to Lexington and points further southeast takes you too far east, which is why I-71 to Louisville is better — or at least Mapquest says so (I used to used Rand McNally atlases before MQ came along).
I think a more reflective piece would have realized that you are praising capitalism’s contributions to making us rootless. The roads are great, but the towns and cities are where we live. They are becoming increasingly uglier and more broken-down, and capitalism is also to blame for such eyesores as the mass-produced ranch house, the strip mall, and the horrible design of most towns. (Try walking to where you work and shop. For a lot of people, it’s impossible. Literally impossible, as in taking 4 hours plus.)
It’s kind of like praising Wal-Mart. Both good, and bad in the mix.
I live in Connecticut on a quiet street in the suburbs, not a development. We can walk to: elementary school, middle school, park with tennis courts, baseball diamonds, soccer field, village shopping with super market, toy store, jewelry store, various clothing stores, hardware store, drug store, doctor’s office, liquor store, a bagel shop, some modest restaurants. (With the exception of the drug store, none of the above is a national chain, all are family owned.) People park on the street one time and can do all their shopping without getting in the car again. Or better yet, people walk or bike to town. People walk and bike around town for pleasure. We see our friends walk by after dinner as we sit on our front porch and we wave and chat. My sister who lives in Georgia loves visiting me. There is NOTHING within walking distance of her house except other houses and it is the rare person who walks for pleasure there. She barely knows her neighbors. My question: why do people opt to live in areas like this that are not communities at all?
um. I live in a ranch house. a mass produced ranch house. I shop at a strip mall. two strip malls cover all my needs.
this part of the globe had few buildings at all, even a hundred years ago. Balloon framing has made it possible for people to live near everywhere. The big, elegant sturdy houses you pine for? Out of reach for most people. Would you rather we live in apartments only? or tents? would you prefer the crumbling concrete, or the tiny rooms of great houses, only? Or the always half- built, but ever so authentic middle eastern hovels. Oh, wait, the sincere cardboard and aluminum foil boxes of the favelas.
You are a prig, and a snot, to boot. Inexpensive, durable, small, pretty houses made the middle class in America an enjoyable experience. My house might look like one of four floorplans, but my life, and my family’s life, is individual and unique. And, no, you are not invited in to find out. One of the greater pleasures of suburbs is the informal, quite fierce privacy. No paparazzi, no great public dinners, no gossip pages. Backyard barbecues, kids’ soccer games, and not much gossip- mostly kind mothers trying to find the best to say about another. My great-grandmothers pumped water from a well, to wash the dishes. They walked out into the yard to an outhouse. I, through no personal effort or virtue, have abundant indoor water, indoor plumbing, a walk- in closet, b/c some builders after world war 2 figured out how to construct houses inexpensively, and they were proud enough of their product to make it attractive.
I’m sorry you are a pretend aristocrat. I’d rather have a real american posting.
Most of the “freebies” which you enjoyed were not free at all… you just prepaid for those services, i.e. rewards-points for airlines & hotels, car insurance, and cell-phone usage. Those costs are already built into the prices you paid for those services.
Nevertheless, a wonderful travel chronicle and a paean to the “free” market system (i.e. unfettered markets).
On another note, please run to see “Atlas Shrugged” — I found the movie to be top-notch… despite what the liberals in Hollywood and newspaper critics say. Perhaps we can take back cinema, just like we did to talk-radio, if we only support these Conservative ventures.
Enjoy the benefits of capitalism and freedom now, our fearless leaders(kudos to Boris and Natasha) seem to want to take us down another path. I read a little paper in Pleaston, Ca. was pressured to take out part of a puff piece story about Michelle Obama’s treatment of the flight crew of White House helicopter. Censorship is in the works.
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