The Challenges for the US Today

This article discussing the challenges in creating a high speed rail system is worth checking out because most of these challenges are there for more than just this particular problem.

High speed rail may be unusually difficult because of the long term planning and strong commitment required - but the obstacles listed here are true for just about any large scale proposal.

I'm not willing to say a permanent change has happened - though I'm not sure if that's because admitting as much seems tantamount to saying we're doomed to decline, or if it's a realistic assessment of the possibilities.

We do like inspiring grand projects after all, and I hope that projects like the moon shot and Manhattan project are not something we've lost the capability to do. (though how much of that was driven by fear?)

I do like the idea of high speed rail, not just for the idea that you could get from New York to Chicago in four hours. It would probably not be profitable to private businesses, but making it easy to go from Houston to El Paso, to Tucson, Vegas, and San Diego (perhaps not all on one line) would be a huge economic boon to such spread out cities.

Still, getting the contiguous stretches of land required (without screwing over Native Americans as we've repeatedly done) would be a definite challenge, and that's not even getting into the funding and actual construction.

Anyways, there's other moonshot-like projects that have seemed not worth mentioning given the current political situation.

Like pushing for solar panels on rooftops (rooftops seem like such a wasted potential. I hear it's not really worth it unless the rooftops are a certain size... But schools? Warehouses? Federal buildings? And upgrading utility companies from just generating power to focusing on transporting and storing energy from a variety of sources. Shame that I hear those are some of the most conservative businesses, and the most expensive to get into. And full of shady a-holes probably not too different from the Enron folks, because there's real potential there. Hopefully the scattered impressions I have are wrong.) 

And maybe we hyperspeed rail is a stretch, but surely we can do some sort of comprehensive upgrades to our infrastructure. Hell, bring back zeppelins. Part of the appeal of high speed trains is that we're willing to give up a little bit of the time save flying if it means traveling in comfort, and with less stress. 

Further moon shot goals would be expanding high speed internet access (like we did to push telephone service out to rural areas). Now that we've all learned how to work remotely during the pandemic, it's a great chance to revitalize rural communities. Have internet, and you can work from North Judson just as easily as Chicago. 

It's such a shame that too many people have decided lower taxes are more important than investing in ourselves. 

Like, maybe we're in decline and maybe we aren't. I don't think it's inevitable yet, if we can get our shit together. 

But the challenges laid out in the article are the exact same things keeping us from doing that.