Is It Not Important Wrote:
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> Evidently people, driving the car and taking the
> areoplane, do not care.

Phooey. "Apparently"? Please give me and all of us hard evidence that shows your post is anything more than your uninformed opinion. And can you prove that "people...taking the areoplane", whom you claim -- with no evidence to support your statement -- that "do not care" about Amtrak long-distance trains continuing to run are all American citizens and thus are allowed to have a say in where their tax dollars are spent?

And Amtrak's entire national long-distance system is but a skeleton of what used to be a healthy body of long-distance trains. Take a look at a map that shows all the long-distance trains that ran on April 30, 1971, then look at a map that shows all the Amtrak trains that ran on the very next day -- May 1, 1971. You will be shocked!

===> People cannot ride trains that do not exist!

So -- the number of people who actually ride Amtrak long-distance trains is kept low because there are not enough trains to satisfy the huge demand that is definitely there.

FYI -- Amtrak's FY 2015-2016 appropriation was to the entire federal budget what $1.45 is to $3,853 -- not even a rounding error, and not worth arguing about, because it is far, far too small. The 2 "biggies" in the federal budget are (when you knock off all the zeroes they have in common) in the ~ $900 range, with other federal entities in the ~ $300 range.

And not all people can or should drive or fly, for various very good reason they have no control over. Such as getting disabled or old. Hey -- you, too, will get old, if you do not pass away at a young age, and you, too, will be in the very same "boat" as all older people: you cannot deal well with driving at night, and later on, your reaction time slows down so much, and if you get any touch of senility, you should NOT drive. Do YOU really want not to be able to travel -- just because a younger and uninformed and uncaring version of yourself did no care if you had no choice but to stay home? Geez......

And in many towns, there is no bus or air service, and Amtrak is the only -- and I repeat, ONLY - public transportation that serves many communities.

So -- even if some people really "do not care" whether or not our federal government does "promote the general welfare", our Constitution still states that that is what our federal government is supposed to do, whether or not everyone cares if it does that.