Florida's Rick Scott is the latest Republican governor to join the conservative crusade against railroads:
Florida Gov. Rick Scott has joined a growing list of Republicans who have spurned the Obama administration's high-speed rail funds.
In a letter to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood on Wednesday, Scott said the projections for Florida's rail project are too optimistic and that the project wouldn't pay for itself, leaving taxpayers on the hook for the remaining costs.
"I believe the dollars being made available for proposed high-speed rail projects are better invested in higher yield projects," Scott wrote. "The long-term job creation opportunities from these projects are greater, the private investment stronger, and the economic yield more permanent."
I've said this before, but GOP opposition to high-speed rail -- and public transportation more generally -- has less to do with any ideological difference and more to do with anti-liberalism. Tax cuts and nationalistic aggression notwithstanding, Republicans are defined by their disdain for liberals. Indeed, there are few things more predictable than the conservative backlash to everything liberals do. When liberals encourage breastfeeding, conservatives denounce them as "nanny-staters." When liberals support walkable neighborhoods, conservatives double-down on suburbs. And when liberals offer to build more railroads, conservatives opt to take their ball and go home. It's like trying to work with a party full of Cartmans.
