Fellow Travelers

Opposition to highway privatization has cut across political categories, producing a few strange bedfellows.

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“Why the rush to sell our transportation systems to foreigners? ‘Follow the money’ explains all. State and local governments pocket the money upfront and get to spend it here and now, so politicians can cover their runaway budget deficits and enjoy the political rewards of spending for new facilities.”

– Conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly

“It may be indeed like the Louisiana Purchase, only Indiana is the France of this deal. You are taking a minuscule up-front payment in return for a large downstream profit to a foreign company which is being handed a captive customer base.”

Ralph Nader (in a letter to Indiana governor Mitch Daniels)

Daniels “just screwed the state of Indiana and the people of the state of Indiana. [Private companies] have a license to print money here. It’s a scam, basically. And you lose control of your transportation infrastructure.”

– Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), incoming chair of the House Subcommittee on Highways, Transit, and Pipelines

Back to “The Highwaymen”

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