In the latest Weekly Standard, Fred Barnes ventures outside his comfort zone of writing down things Republican officials tell him to write an anti-bike path screed. When I picked it up, I thought to myself, this column is not going to acknowledge that driving is heavily subsidized vis a vis bikes, or that cars create negative externalities in the form of carbon dioxide emissions, is it? Check, and check. I did not, however, expect this rousing conclusion:
In his tabletop speech, LaHood said he and his wife take their bikes to the path along the C&O Canal and “ride as far as we possibly can.” That’s nice. But it’s interesting, and perhaps telling, that the canal, as a major mode of transportation, has been obsolete since the 1880s—a lot like bicycling and walking.
Bicycling and walking are obsolete?