tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5862444008740250372.post1371724831759286629..comments2024-02-01T04:37:41.878-05:00Comments on Cap'n Transit Rides Again: Consensus through democracyCap'n Transithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17057887736728828646noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5862444008740250372.post-25355215421099878362010-07-18T10:35:39.712-04:002010-07-18T10:35:39.712-04:00Autocrats can sometimes create consensus, by makin...Autocrats can sometimes create consensus, by making all other possibilities seem infeasible. A good example is roads in the US, which were a consensus form of spending starting after World War Two and ending only in the last few years. The prewar impetus for roads was a combination of grassroots populist activism and industry-funded astroturf, but the people who built roads were almost always dictators. Robert Moses is just the best-known example; he was far from the only <i>auto</i>crat. Often, the transit-to-roads shift came about with obscure rules, for example the requirement in Denver that streetcars pay 25-50% of road maintenance costs.<br /><br />The ongoing unraveling of the road consensus also provides us with an example of how consensus can break down when people see alternatives and like them. Of course, in parts of urban America there was never a pro-road consensus. Now rural and suburban America has in part decided to go with building rail - not out of consensus, yet, as much as out of belief that LRT and HSR are the new federal fads as well as annoyance with traffic jams. This should be an example suggesting ways not only to build consensus but also to maintain it.<br /><br />Finally, in Switzerland, there is one major political force that does not accept the consensus, namely the Swiss People's Party. While the party's main ideology is nativism, it is also ruralist and pro-highway. This partly mirrors the urban challenge to road dominance in the US: in both cases, the challenge comes from constituencies that feel disenfranchised under the old consensus. In Switzerland, it's rural dwellers who feel threatened by the urban acceptance of minorities; in the US, it's minorities and some white urbanites who feel the suburban consensus is whitewashing America's diversity (it's unmistakable in Paul Krugman).Alon Levyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12195377309045184452noreply@blogger.com