It's no surprise that many of our local Republicans are dead set against California's planned high-speed rail system.
Their vision for transportation is more cars, more roads -- and grabbing a seat next to Karl Rove on a farmer's private jet when "Bush's Brain" parachutes into the Valley to export more cash.
The GOP's goal is to take us back to simpler times, even as countries such as China race toward the future by embracing technology.
In this regard, the Republicans belong with the wing of the environmental movement that prefers we live in adobe huts and collect nuts for dinner.
Even though the Republicans were all but made irrelevant in California by last week's elections, pockets of the Central Valley still are swell with the GOP's sales pitch of simple solutions to complex problems.
My fear is that local Republican obstructionists will team with Bay Area NIMBYs to kill high-speed rail. They have the means with California's overwrought regulatory process and the GOP's takeover of the House of Representatives.
Last week brought word that the California High-Speed Rail Authority had $4.3 billion to design and build the first segment in the Valley, with Fresno as a hub.
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