I started reading the English-language versions of international news publications because of the dismal uselessness of tediously Far Left US media. I am going to have to stop reading those publications, because it is becoming just too depressing.
While the US Political Class is focused on things like San Francisco’s Political Class plan to spend money they don’t have to give “reparations” for the next quarter millennium to people who have never been enslaved in a State that never had slaves, the Rest of the World is moving on.
Two of today’s news events – happen to be from China.
First is that China has just opened the longest freeway tunnel in the world – about 14 miles long – to improve communications in western China.
Second is that China has just opened yet another High Speed Rail line to improve communications within the country, bringing the total HSR network to over 30,000 miles.
These are the results of long-term efforts. Construction began when President Autopen squatted in the White House, and planning probably began when Barry Soetero was there.
When I was a lad, doing great things was the essence of America. Now, our Political Class whistles and looks the other way while we fall further behind. Other people are developing their countries and improving people’s lives. What went wrong?
I’ve been thinking about exactly this (and getting despondent). I think we have developed by far the most sophisticated yet corrupt system of government the world has ever seen. Virtually no public system works any longer - those that have any semblance of functionality are terminally indebted and on the verge of collapse. The health “care” system (Medicare, Medicaid); millions of illegal aliens, many of whom have no interest in assimilating (and a substantial portion of whom - islamists - are dedicated to taking over; Social Security; etc. etc. So thoroughly ruled as we are by entrenched and unaccountable permanent bureaucracy steeped in Marxism/wokism; my local school board intends to double real estate taxes to build a new high school for (supposedly) $300 million. As with the rest of the completely broken education system, the character of the buildings are #20 on the list of problems. Yet, our betters constantly refer to this system as “democracy”. The expression “consent of the governed” has been turned into a cruel joke.
Grasping at straws, are we? There have been longer railway tunnels for many years. The Simplon Tunnel was completed around the turn of the century — the previous one, that is — is over 12 miles. About ten years ago, a 35-mile tunnel under the Swiss Alps was completed. And we mustn’t forget the 30-mile Chunnel, which is over 30 years old and under water. Norway is currently building a 17-mile road tunnel, also under water.
You are missing the point! Yes, there is nothing new about long rail tunnels – long road tunnels, not so much. Long new tunnels in the US … you will have to get back to us with examples of that. We will wait.
That is the point! The country that in the 1950s could build an interstate highway system can no longer tackle any such challenge in the 2020s. But you know that, even if you would rather not think about it.
In 1965 – six decades ago – a proud confident productive US built the St Louis Gateway Arch. 19th Century English called such edifices “follies” – magnificent architecture serving no commercial purpose but brightening people’s lives.
Take a look at this photo of sunset in Beijing, courtesy of the Global times:
Of course, what is amazing to people who were aware of Beijing even a decade ago is not the whimsical architecture, it is the fact that the air is clean enough to see the mountains. But that is what people can do when they have a genuinely productive economy – not only build monuments, but also clean up the environment.
On the other hand, when an economy consists of Ivy League indoctrinated lawyers cutting checks to fake Somali child care centers … well, look around you. This is what you get.
Has it occurred to you that long road tunnels apparently are not needed in the US, given that the Interstate Highway System successfully connected a continent-sized country without them? And, I might add, it did so over half a century ago. Note, this was at a time tunnel technology was already well developed.
Perhaps you’d like to suggest where a 15-mile tunnel is required in the US. I’ll wait, to coin a phrase.
Yes, because the technology required to dig road tunnels is totally different from that required for rail tunnels. Again, you’ve failed to consider whether such a tunnel is the best solution.
And you, sir, have lost yourself in the weeds. You are totally failing to look at the big picture – at a country which once could put a Man on the Moon and today can only file paperwork with the nearest bureaucrat, who would also just fiddle around with details while ignoring the real issues.
Tunnels, bridges, freeways, airports, docks, mass transit systems, even amusement parks – just examples of big things which a certain other country is doing very well, but which are now beyond the capabilities of a country now infested by a self-enriching political class of lawyers & bureaucrats. Ignore it if you want, but the reality is there to see. And you, like the rest of us, will have to live with the rather dismal consequences.
And you have spent too much time kneeling at the feet of China; everything is colored by China über alles. China is not the all-powerful, all-mighty state that is poised to take over the world. I remember hearing the same things about Japan in the 1980s and look where they are today! Why, it only took about five years for the whole thing to collapse and they’ve been in the doldrums ever since.
Yes, China is a force to be reckoned with and the US has plenty of problems. I have previously given reasons why China is not the juggernaught you think it is. The parallels with Japan are not perfect — no two things are exactly alike — but there are important similarities. Two of the most salient are collapsing fertility and lack of creativity. Look through previous comments for more details; I’ll not repeat the same points here.
Again, sir, you totally miss the point. The issue is not China. The issue is the United States – and our undeniable loss of capabilities and confidence.
Whether China fails or prospers, we in the US are going to have to live with the consequences of our own choices. Opening our eyes to reality is the first step to reversing some of the stupidity and putting ourselves back on a better path.
The @drlorentz I know would first have commented that the reason China builds road tunnels and the Europeans build rail tunnels is that Europe is more committed to collective socialism.
Along those lines, Europe developed its transportation infrastructure before cars were universally available. Rail was the principal mode of interurban transport while the Chinese were still walking or riding animals.
The US followed a somewhat different path because of the widespread adoption of the automobile: a more individualistic mode in tune with the American spirit. Air travel (also American) won over rail because the US is a continent-sized nation, unlike the compact, mutually mistrustful, European countries. One of the reasons the Chunnel took so long to happen is the Brits weren’t comfortable with a ready invasion route across the Channel — and who could blame them.
In more recent times, France built an incredibly long, tall bridge for cars, the Millau Viaduct: a genuine tour de force. The resurgence of the auto? Or perhaps a quicker escape route from the Mediterranean coast for when Jean Raspail’s prediction of the migrant invasion comes true.
This solipsism is universal- for the last 20 yrs the top minds of the West assumed deep down, every Afghan tribesman was actually an individualistic Protestant theater kid waiting to be liberated
This poor theory of mind was formally exposed in psychology as the WEIRD problem
