Thank you OPB, this infection of sound bite psuedo intellectual quasi ignorance, based on ideologues spouting propoganda, and our apparent failure at even basic civics education is one of he biggest threats to our traditional American civic values that the citizens, in our free and democratic system, are the government.

Reading a few of these deep comments, it's not very surprising that every issue is reduced to ignorant ideological sound bites these days, and then people wonder why our institutions don't seem to function well anymore.

I've worked with dozens of elected officials of all stripes from both parties on rail and highway policies and projects during my career. I used to believe that most of the work on traffic and safety were bi-partisan issues based on needs common to all citizens and taxpayers. But lately, as I've encountered more of this ideological insanity from both extremes in our political system I have my deep doubts about our future. This increasing "worship" of simplistic political ideologies makes me wonder if we will soon all freeze to death in the dark, from the political gridlock that has been created through the ignorance propogated by reducing every issue to ideological political sound bites.

Do these "redistributional" conspiracy theorist's use highways, trains, or show up at emergency rooms that I paid for? Do they pay for their full share every time, for every mile driven on a public road, every ticket on a train or plane ticket bought, or for every expensive medical procedure done? Or, are they they the "freeloaders" who show up without health insurance, driving there with an expired registration tag, and then expect to be taken care of? Are we really transferring wealth through "redistribution of wealth" to those Marines who are out there defending us?

Oh that's right, these people never ever get sick or disabled, never get stuck in traffic on a public road, never walk on a public sidewalk, never turn on the water from a public water project, never vacation in a national forest...... These folks never do anything that uses tax supplied services or infrastructure, right? They don't expect the fire department to show up, or the cops to save them while being mugged, do they? Because this is all part of the "government" conspiracy for the "redistribution of wealth", too?

I don't support stupid rail or highway projects, I don't support political corruption or waste of tax dollars in building the things we need as a society. I do support a culture of responsibility for taxpayer dollars. I beleive we live in a society where we have responsibilities, as well as rights, and where mostly we beleive in common sense, equity, and fairness, and that we are all American's regardless of our politics. So, unlike these folks who don't seem to like much about American civics, I do beleive that our system of government, despite all of its faults, is still one of the best, because it works by a reason based pragmatic consensus of the citizens, with checks and balances to preserve our rights, not by the mob rule, or by the rule of ideological extremism that has plagued other systems.