Dear Editor:
Madison said in The Federalist No. 41, “A bad cause seldom fails to betray itself.” Last Thursday’s unanimous decision by the San Benito County Council of Governments to reject extending Caltrain from Gilroy to Hollister shows us again the genius of the father of the constitution.
As Sen. John McCain said about Amtrak, by an rational measuring rod Caltrain is a failed experiment.
Relying on rural common sense to tell socialist transit advocates that their uncommon nonsense is unacceptable, COG’s directors then proceeded to initiate privatization of the government passenger bus monopoly.
While recognizing the importance of railroads, they refused enlargement of Black Hole Government. These directors have courageously marked a new course: Back to the Future, back to America’s free-enterprise roots. Could it be that Transportation Secretary Mineta’s challenge to government leaders is bearing its first fruit?
He said in 1995, “The crucial question in transportation today is: “What should government do, and what should it leave to others?” They answered Mineta’s crucial question with a courage born of necessity.
Government does not belong in the transportation business. While private-sector transport is not without its problems, our generation’s experiment with socialist transport has produced obvious answers: Emperor Transit First is stark naked.
We are witnessing a counter-revolution, but do our leaders in Sacramento and Washington, D.C. have the common sense of our local government leaders and the father of our constitution?
Joseph P. Thompson
Tres Pinos
