(OK, OK, this is really the big one. The big debate to end all debates. Who needs to debate after this? We just need to go out there and have fun as a monkey. Well, we say very important things to think about while you ride your bike. Or maybe when you go walking. That works too! Actually you may even grab yourself a nice scooter and have a blast. Who says the revolution must be boring? No, no, it better be fun!)
SOMEONE SAYS:
Look, I hate to belittle your point-of-view in any way because I once felt exactly the same way, and I can still recognize the great virtue of trying to put in place such a system. The problem with your way of looking at the world is that you take a very top-down approach. You are effectively arguing that the way we are doing things now is "bad", and the way you want things to be is "good". You have a long list of reasons why your way is good, and I am sure you genuinely feel that way.
I don't even intend to disagree with your "ideal world" being ideal in its own way. Obviously there are health benefits, and you could certainly find good reasons for why it would benefit us economically(less dependency on foreign oil). The problem I have with your position is that it really doesn't take into account what people actually want. Or at least what they are actually willing to pay for it. In truth, the entire disposition is based on a totally unprincipled philosophy. Let me explain.
Either you believe democracy can solve our problems, or you don't believe democracy can solve our problems. You seem to be arguing that democracy should produce bike lanes and mass transit. But democracy already exists and has largely not produced those things. So then you argue that we don't really have a democracy, that our government is controlled by special interests(especially oil, real estate, car manufacturers, etc). Which is probably correct, but even if that is true, how do you really know what the people actually want? Or more appropriately, what they are willing to pay for if given the choice?
Let me say, the majority of people don't care at all for bike lanes. The vast majority of the population wouldn't ride a bicycle if there was a bike lane right in front of their house and it took them everywhere they needed to go. In the vast majority of the United States bicycles are impractical, or at least impractical most of the year. Kansas isn't Copenhagen, the weather is terrible, and the sprawl is considerable. If left to pure democratic choice, bike lanes simply would not exist. I mean, look at it like this. Imagine if they could take a bike lane project and its cost, then put it up for direct democratic vote, would it pass? It is extremely unlikely.
Bike lanes and mass transit projects are mostly pushed through by city planners. Who are primarily trying to alleviate traffic and parking issues.
In truth, I find it ironic that you seem to have so much faith in Democracy, when you should actually be disgusted by it. Democracy will not produce what you want it to produce, one way or another. In those places where democracy so happens to have produced bike lanes or mass transit, they are almost universally a consequence of economics, not democracy. In Europe, the only reason mass transit even exists is a combination of extremely high gas prices and infrastructure that predates the automobile(the same goes for New York City). Urban Sprawl is increasing all across Europe.
And all of this really begs the question, who actually benefits from mass transit anyway? The truth is, the only entity which truly benefits from mass transit is the government. The rich don't care about it, and the poor can neither really afford mass transit, or the sky-high prices of everything else that goes to pay for it. As prices rise, the socioeconomic segregation becomes extreme. In those cities where mass transit is most available, are the cities you least want to live if you are poor(or at least white and poor). Do you want to be poor in Chicago or New York City? I don't.
But all of this ignores the only good argument that bicyclists have. Since local roads are paid for largely by property taxes, and since people who ride bicycles pay the property taxes just like everyone else. Bicyclists believe their "share" of the taxes they pay in should go to doing things they actually want, rather than what others want to do with that money. Basically, the bicyclist argument is the exact opposite of democratic choice. Which is actually very common among both those on the liberal left and the conservative right. Everyone wishes the money they pay in to taxes would go to the things they actually want. Which is impossible in a democracy. Thus, almost everyone actually despises democracy, they just don't see an alternative.
So is there an alternative?
The problem with democracy is that whoever gets 51% of the vote gets what they want and the other 49% gets nothing. In order for bicyclists to have what they want, you would need to devise a system where minorities are better represented. Where those with only 10% of the vote can still receive 10% of the funding. But if you know anything about politics, you'll realize that politics is largely an all-or-nothing game. When Obama won 51% of the vote in 2012, he declared that he received a "mandate" from the American people. Then declared that the other 49% of the population were just being obstructionists because they didn't win the vote.
That sort of winner-takes-all election system is something that those on the political left will seem to embrace when their candidate is in charge, but then deride when they aren't(the same goes for those on the political right). There is no consistent principled position when it comes to politics and democracy in America, and I don't believe that you can fix it.
***
MY WISE WORDS:
I'll take it right there: "I don't believe that you can fix it... in America."
There's hope that these ideas will be put into place in other nations, such as Ecuador or Colombia (they are taking great steps toward a bike culture), or perhaps Sudan --out of need. In Africa the bike is the most valuable tool you can have.
(just wrote this that seems very fitting here)
SPARTAN: showing the indifference to comfort or luxury traditionally associated with ancient Sparta.
Revolutionaries must be spartan. There's no toilet paper in Venezuela. Who needs toilet paper?
Well, food and bicycles are not a luxury, and it seems they are in short supply in Venezuela too. It's not there's no bicycles, it's just that Venezuelans are used to the "American way of life," where the bicycle has no place.
What kind of revolution is that?
***
So America is that way, and it will probably be that way, until the final Armageddon --associated with climate change or nuclear war, not Jesus. Of course, Americans believe in Jesus so everything is upside down. The problem --an even greater problem-- is that America exports that model to some countries like China, India and Venezuela, where the average citizen is as brainwashed as Americans. Who brainwashes Americans? The answer is obvious: ADVERTISING. They flash in your face SUVs on TV every day, and that's what you see out there, and you think you may survive better on our chaotic roads being bigger, so naturally you want an SUV too! So here we are: 300 million plus consumers. WE ARE CONSUMERS. Forget the fancy words like democracy and freedom. Nothing's free in the land of the free. The bicycle is free, that's why it doesn't happen. Again, no bicycle infrastructure is needed. TAKE THE LANE AND RIDE AWAY! You may live in the frozen tundra, or the high mountains, where a bicycle is NOT practical, but for the rest of us it's an actual solution. We don't want to be fat like Americans. We don't want to live in a cage like Americans. We don't want to live in fear like Americans.
So I'm praying to the Banana Goddess (mother nature) for a real spartan revolution somewhere. It could be Russia or it could be Sudan. It could be democratic or not. We can go Holland and be inspired:
http://www.justebikes.co.uk/categories/sparta/
Notice the brand name and the type of bike where they lead: ELECTRIC BIKES. Not exactly spartan, but we want to something better than Sudan. All those bikes are certified SUB: Sport Utility Bike.
We don't need more junk than necessary. A cargo bike weighs 50 lbs, an SUV weighs 5 tons. We can actually be adventurous and be social on a bike. We don't want to intimidate anyone. We don't want to kill anyone even by accident. Life is not about power. In my philosophy the purpose of life is to have fun --as a monkey, right?
