Governor-elect (or re-elect) Branstad says he's not sure if some new rail service would be cost-effective.  Does the Re-Gov think rubber on fast-weathering concrete is more cost effective than steel on steel?
 
In absence of a perspective that mankind is going to enjoy or suffer a future that arises from a combination of what is done and not done, does Branstad plan on dusting off an unused buggy whip and whuppin’ the State off into the sunset?   In getting even further back to basics, best we realize the mistake made back when some road-improvement fool of the moment started yelling, “Get Iowa out of the mud”—they should ha’ been yelling, “Get a horse!”
 
And who says we need roads; trails were doing just fine until some fool, maybe that kite-flying Postmaster Ben Franklin, got us sucked into the same kind of road-building tomfoolery that brought down the Roman Empire.   And who’s ever heard of trail rage?  And talk about road rage, the Roman’s build the Appian Way and the next thing you know Spartacus and 6,000 other early Tea Party members get crucified along its way.
 
Roads are nothing more than an opportunity for law suits over accidents, and it is miraculous if an accident ever leads to something like St. Paul’s salvation when, as Saul on the Road to Damascus, he fell off of his ass and on to his head and saw the light.