I am back from vacation, reconnected with America as it was. I saw the Golden Spike National Historical Park, where the future happened and real things made real changes. I strongly suggest the Steven Ambrose book on the building of the railroad, as it encapsulates the energy and drive of great individuals astride a historic flow of change.
A polished railroad tie marks the spot where they celebrated to achievement, having overrun each other’s track by 250 miles, at a spot selected by a committee of experts where there was no water for the trains.
Today I see Prosecutor Mueller playing his best cards to an audience of the media and the beltway, who will feast on it for days.
Meanwhile the NFL is ignoring most of it’s paying customers.
The film industry is disconnected from the consuming public.
The DNC still thinks a pro criminal stance is a winner at the polls.
The descendants of the gandy dancers, the track layers, the surveyors, the game hunters, the fresh off the boat immigrants who came to live and breathe, the veterans of the War Between The States who went west, the campfollowers are still here.
Many of those descendants still have that essential grit that made this country. They are not the audience for the various three card monte acts listed above.
Our self anointed elites still harbor the hope of the blindness of the great unwashed.
America in general was different. Not effeminate.
The building of the railroad was yet another congressional boondoggle, fraught with graft, useless projects, and bad management. The railroad that had the golden spike was immediately bankrupt because it had nothing to haul. No one had bothered to develop the land the railroad went into. ONLY the Great Northern was built in segments, with development along the way so the rail had relevance. As a result it made money, the only one of the 4 that set out to cross the country.
Government has been doing transportation projects that don’t work most of its history. Just look at all the “canals” that were built – to nowhere. The Erie Canal was the only one that came close to being useful, and that only for a bit.
Yet the track was laid, the capital invested and the trains ran , opening up a continent for development.
Despite the individual shenanigans of the railroad finance, the trains still ran and much money was made, despite the official financial statements.
The game was one of asset development using Other People’s Money.