It was obvious to everyone that California’s high-speed rail was never going to work — everyone, that is, except for California Democrats blinded by their climate change theology.
Now, according to the New York Times, the “projections widely used by engineers and project managers” show that “the train could not be completed in this century.”
LOS ANGELES DEMOCRATS’ RACISM IS PART OF A BROADER PROBLEM
This century!
The magic train to nowhere is now sitting in purgatory, with California Democrats unsure whether or not to burn more money on the project. California voters approved the project’s first bond in 2008, when the price tag was $33 billion. It was supposed to be finished two years ago. Now, the price tag is up to $113 billion, and even the initial segment of the line, which doesn’t go anywhere useful, is likely going to fall short of its 2030 completion goal.
The New York Times’s summary of events is damning. Several former rail authority leaders disparage either the project, the political gamesmanship that took priority over the cost of the project, or both. The decision to saddle the Central Valley with the beginning of the failing project was justified on the basis of the valley being the “easiest place to build” because it was “mostly open farmland.” The state simply strong-armed farmers into giving up their land in the “largest land take in modern state history,” and the Times notes that the land seizures aren’t finished just yet.
Among the operators who sought out the contract for the project was the French national railroad. But the company bailed in 2011 and went to Morocco because North Africa was “less politically dysfunctional” than California with its single-party Democratic rule.
This failure lies squarely on California Democrats. The Times singles out former Gov. Jerry Brown and the Obama administration, which sent Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to lobby for the Central Valley portion of the project. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who served as the lieutenant governor under Brown, decided to continue funneling money into the project, even as Democratic legislators began getting cold feet.
Everyone involved in this project, from Newsom on down, has shown an appalling lack of judgment that really should be disqualifying for future political office. At best, they were living a fantasy, making mistake after mistake while lighting billions of taxpayer dollars on fire for nothing. At worst, they knowingly misled Californians with unachievable deadlines and underestimated budgets, deceiving them to funnel cash to labor unions and politically connected consultants and contractors.
Single-party Democratic rule in California has a collection of lowlights, from poverty and homelessness to the cost of living. But “more dysfunctional than North Africa” is certainly one of the worst distinctions California has ever earned. With California Democrats becoming more blinded by progressivism and environmentalism, it can only get worse. With Newsom eyeing the presidency and President Joe Biden pushing California as a model for the country, it won’t just be Californians who feel the effects of this centurylong failure.
