Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Trains, Automobiles & Subsidiarity

California is a state admirably suited for train travel, as this article from the San Francisco Chronicle notes, with its long profile and scattered metro areas which trains could link to quite nicely, and by using the type of high speed trains that Japan has been using, and perfecting, for decades, the trip from Sacramento to San Diego could take about three hours.

The principle of subsidiarity reminds us that sometimes it is better to do things without the often over-planned help from outside, and that is a lesson New Orleans is reliving as it rebuilds from Katrina, as chronicled in this article from City Journal.

And with the help of Brad Pitt, Harry Connick Jr., Habitat for Humanity, and the stimulus of the determined resistance to the attempt by the local government to dictate how the houses in New Orleans could be rebuilt, the principle is thriving and the city is rebuilding.