Important headlines for April 13th – Brightline & Freedom's decline?
Bottom Line: These are stories you don't want to miss and my hot takes on them...
Excerpt: Brightline’s passenger rail service began testing in Miami-Dade County on Wednesday, with plans to launch regular service from Fort Lauderdale to Downtown Miami in the coming weeks, the company’s president and chief operating officer told reporters.
The company’s higher-speed trains have been running from West Palm Beach to Fort Lauderdale along the Florida East Coast Railway since January. The company plans to expand to Orlando in the coming years.
Hot Take: While we don't have hard numbers from Brightline on usage as of yet - they did indicate last month that usage was "three times" what they'd forecasted. While much of the focus is simply on the rare pedestrian deaths (most commonly suicide), it's seems to be a success thus far. The connection to Miami can be a game changer for many people. While it commonly takes about an hour and a half to travel from Fort Lauderdale to West Palm Beach by car (with Brightline's average being 35 minutes thus far) - it's often well in excess of 2+ hours from the Palm Beaches to Miami. As a result, many people simply don't make the trip if they can help it. This opens up endless possibilities that can not only be a plus for those seeking a more expansive area around South Florida with which they can work without having to relocate, it also has the potential to offset some of the concerns about housing and affordable housing as well. In the age of Uber, it's easy to get from points A, B & C this way.
Ultimately this has the potential to be a win-win-win. Good for the state and local economies, good for easing traffic congestion and good for those using it for both work and play. It's easy to focus on negatives and I'm not surprised that's where the attention has been focused but the next stop for Brightline opens up considerably more opportunity than what's be achieved thus far.
Ryan Is the Personification of Conservatism's Decline E.J. Dionne, Washington Post
Hot Take: I love it when those on the left with an agenda like to wax on the inner workings of those they loathe and don't attempt to understand. This just in. Politics are complicated. Are all Democrats liberals? Are all Republicans conservatives? How many that don't identify with a political party are conservatives? How many are liberals? There are actually answers to these questions btw, but you'll not find them in the Washington Post. Paul Ryan isn't the personification of conservatism's decline. He personifies the decline of pragmatism. There's a big difference. This was on display with the most recent significant legislation that passed - the Omnibus spending legislation. The most conservative members of his caucus voted against it. Paul made the case for it. The left is quick to declare conservatism as being in decline or dead. Remember the mantra that George W. Bush would be the last Republican President? Heck Bush himself said worried that'd be the case himself after Trump won the nomination and what happened? Republicans went on to win more elected offices across the country than at any point since 1928. And it certainly isn't because Americans had a love affair with the Republican party all of a sudden.
"Conservatism" will always be popular because it's what most people actually want. It's just that the term is bastardized just as "liberalism" is. Ironically conservatism means more freedom and liberalism means more government control. Ask the average Millennial if they're conservative or liberal. By a 2 to 1 margin they'll say liberal.
Ask the average Millennial if they believe that the government should take more of their money to make decisions with it or if they should retain more of it and decide for themselves... How do you think they'd answer that one?
Ask the average Millennial if they'd rather have more freedom to make decisions for themselves or a larger government that make more decisions for them. What's the answer to that one?
Until most people say they want less freedom and want to surrender more of their money for less freedom, conservatism is popular. It's just that ignorance and deception is unfortunately alive and well. Over 90% of political contributions by teacher's unions and news media professionals goes to Democrats. They're good at misinformation and perpetuating ignorance in the name of a political agenda they feel benefits them. Paul Ryan's exist is sad because it's representative of less pragmatism. Compromise has become a four-letter word and that's unfortunate in my view. But conservatism, freedom, that's as popular as ever. It's just occasionally misunderstood.
I Was a Disney Princess, Had an Abortion, and I Regret It Deanna Falchook, Federalist
Until tomorrow...