WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:04.360 Well, folks, it's time for our regular check in on the high speed 2 00:00:04.480 --> 00:00:08.839 rail system, the California High Speed Rail System. It's going to be one 3 00:00:08.880 --> 00:00:14.199 of the United states first two hundred and twenty mile per hour high speed rail 4 00:00:14.279 --> 00:00:22.039 system. The High Speed Rail Authority has a Twitter account and they're celebrating the 5 00:00:22.239 --> 00:00:27.399 tweet they released on March twenty second. We are celebrating a milestone with our 6 00:00:27.480 --> 00:00:30.239 high speed rail project and you're not gonna be able to guess what it is. 7 00:00:30.760 --> 00:00:36.320 It's gonna knock your all knock y'all socks off. Is it that we 8 00:00:36.479 --> 00:00:45.399 finally have a train that has successfully transported people from Merced to Bakersfield and you 9 00:00:45.439 --> 00:00:49.200 know, lickety split record time. No, No, actually, it's not 10 00:00:49.240 --> 00:00:53.640 that. Oh is it that we've completed the stretch of rail, that we've 11 00:00:53.640 --> 00:00:57.280 completed the stretch of rail and we're ready for testing. No, it's not 12 00:00:57.359 --> 00:01:07.680 that either. What is it we've created thirteen thousand construction jobs. Wait, 13 00:01:11.200 --> 00:01:17.879 but is there any operational track? No, no, there is no operational 14 00:01:17.920 --> 00:01:23.560 track. Not a single person has been transported yet, not one inch of 15 00:01:23.599 --> 00:01:33.560 the high speed rail line is actually operational, and actually, in fact, 16 00:01:33.799 --> 00:01:38.959 the thirteen thousand jobs that the High Speed Rail is trumpeting this week that they've 17 00:01:38.079 --> 00:01:49.040 created The problem is that it hasn't actually created thirteen thousand jobs. Basically, 18 00:01:49.079 --> 00:01:57.920 what that means is like thirteen thousand different like one year contractors. So this 19 00:01:57.079 --> 00:02:02.480 is one of this is the problem. Basically, each time a worker is 20 00:02:02.560 --> 00:02:07.680 sent to a job site, whether that's for one day or hundreds of days, 21 00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:10.840 it counts as odd job for the purpose of you know, what's on 22 00:02:10.919 --> 00:02:15.879 the banner that the rail authority, you know, flags, So it's just 23 00:02:16.039 --> 00:02:23.039 individual workers assigned there for a stretch of time for a contract. It doesn't 24 00:02:23.080 --> 00:02:29.319 mean that there are thirteen thousand guys, you know, hammering away at any 25 00:02:29.360 --> 00:02:32.360 one time. There might be a thousand people working on it. Now, 26 00:02:37.039 --> 00:02:44.479 let's just talk this through. The high Speed Rail has been such an unmitigated 27 00:02:44.639 --> 00:02:55.879 time and time again embarrassment, disaster, overspending on consultant sinkhole with very very 28 00:02:57.000 --> 00:03:02.840 questionable utility, and the utility seems to be getting the possible expected utility out 29 00:03:02.840 --> 00:03:06.680 of the thing, seems to be getting less and less and less and less 30 00:03:06.719 --> 00:03:15.599 and less over time, such that basically what we've been reduced to is heralding 31 00:03:15.639 --> 00:03:23.560 it as a jobs program. And there's a fundamental problem with this. Look, 32 00:03:25.439 --> 00:03:30.639 we could, I guess, if we wanted in America have zero percent 33 00:03:30.759 --> 00:03:36.639 unemployment, if the Soviet Union had that. How do you do it? 34 00:03:36.680 --> 00:03:40.680 Well, you get every person who qualifies as a n able bodied person who 35 00:03:40.719 --> 00:03:47.560 should is or should be in the workforce, and you can assign them from 36 00:03:47.639 --> 00:03:52.400 the state a state run job. And the state controls all the assets and 37 00:03:52.400 --> 00:03:54.439 means of production, and they assign everyone a job. I mean, if 38 00:03:54.520 --> 00:04:02.159 we wanted, California could end unemployment tomorrow by just ordering people coercively to a 39 00:04:02.199 --> 00:04:09.199 new state public works project, the dig a hole and fill a hole project, 40 00:04:09.840 --> 00:04:14.919 where all we do is have people dig ditches and refill them. And 41 00:04:14.960 --> 00:04:20.199 then we could herald it as what an incredible jobs program we've created. We've 42 00:04:20.240 --> 00:04:24.319 put you know, here's all these people looking for work, and we've given 43 00:04:24.360 --> 00:04:27.560 them salaries to you know, we'll give them all forty thousand dollars per year 44 00:04:27.600 --> 00:04:38.160 and benefits to dig holes and refill them. But you sort of start to 45 00:04:38.240 --> 00:04:42.279 kind of miss like, what is the point of a public works project. 46 00:04:43.519 --> 00:04:51.879 The point of a public works project shouldn't just be creating jobs. And one 47 00:04:51.920 --> 00:05:00.240 of the things some commentators have pointed out is that basically having your industrial policy 48 00:05:00.319 --> 00:05:04.600 just be an elaborate jobs program. For one thing, it makes no sense 49 00:05:05.120 --> 00:05:11.079 when unemployment is really low. And actually, you know, there are many 50 00:05:11.120 --> 00:05:15.800 things about the economy now that are not great. Unemployment is actually relatively low. 51 00:05:15.839 --> 00:05:23.480 Unemployment is under four percent. Okay, now that's some of that is 52 00:05:23.519 --> 00:05:27.720 a little skewed by a lot of different factors. Like a lot of people 53 00:05:27.720 --> 00:05:31.160 have sort of dropped out of looking for employment who are otherwise able bodied, 54 00:05:31.199 --> 00:05:38.040 so they're not part of the statistic of people looking for employment. There are 55 00:05:38.079 --> 00:05:42.240 some people employed but sort of underemployed who maybe they're getting part time work with 56 00:05:42.680 --> 00:05:46.600 or gigwork, but they'd rather have full time work, et cetera. Nonetheless, 57 00:05:46.839 --> 00:05:53.480 when unemployment is really low, having tons of state spending on industrial policy 58 00:05:55.160 --> 00:05:59.519 in order just to create jobs doesn't really make a lot of sense, and 59 00:05:59.600 --> 00:06:06.480 especially when inflation is already high, so you're just pumping more government money into 60 00:06:06.480 --> 00:06:23.240 people's pockets artificially. That's not going to help out inflation. So there's all 61 00:06:23.360 --> 00:06:26.959 kinds of and this is the thing, like, yes, okay, we 62 00:06:27.040 --> 00:06:30.319 could just artificially have the state create the jobs program where everyone's digging holes and 63 00:06:30.319 --> 00:06:34.959 filling them in. But all you're doing there, you're not doing anything productive 64 00:06:35.519 --> 00:06:45.199 with the money. It's not doing anything to improve state infrastructure. All you're 65 00:06:45.240 --> 00:06:49.519 really doing is just taking money from wealthier taxpayers and redistributing it to the workers 66 00:06:49.560 --> 00:06:55.920 who are working on the project. Or you know, all the other costs 67 00:06:55.959 --> 00:06:58.920 that are associated in this case, all the other costs that are associated with 68 00:06:58.959 --> 00:07:01.600 high speed rail. And frankly, the thirteen thousand jobs I think is probably 69 00:07:02.079 --> 00:07:08.319 a pittance of the total cost of this high speed rail project. I mean, 70 00:07:08.600 --> 00:07:14.839 for the amount that has been spent on it. I mean, if 71 00:07:14.879 --> 00:07:17.639 you're gonna do a if you're going to do industrial policy as a massive jobs 72 00:07:17.639 --> 00:07:23.360 program, get more jobs. I mean, again, this thirteen thousand jobs 73 00:07:23.399 --> 00:07:30.120 figure is massively overinflated to begin with, As I was saying, there's probably 74 00:07:30.120 --> 00:07:33.399 no more than a thousand people working on this thing at any one given point. 75 00:07:34.360 --> 00:07:39.800 Thirteen thousand is just the number of individual workers that have worked on the 76 00:07:39.879 --> 00:07:44.199 high speed rail for some given period of times, sent from the union hall 77 00:07:44.240 --> 00:07:54.519 to go there. But that's the absurd. You know, the problems we're 78 00:07:54.519 --> 00:08:01.000 facing with high speed rail. There are so many problems not just that it 79 00:08:01.079 --> 00:08:03.959 has taken so long. It is not just that it is so massively over 80 00:08:05.000 --> 00:08:09.519 budget. I think there's also it's not just the problem that the only thing 81 00:08:09.519 --> 00:08:13.879 they have to appeal to is the number of workers who've worked on it. 82 00:08:13.920 --> 00:08:20.720 I think there's also a massive problem looming. And there were studies released I 83 00:08:20.720 --> 00:08:24.439 think last year showing like twenty five percent drop in the numbers of people who 84 00:08:24.439 --> 00:08:28.959 are likely to actually use the high speed rail. Is that we're going to 85 00:08:28.040 --> 00:08:35.399 invest all this money into the high speed rail and I don't know how productive 86 00:08:35.399 --> 00:08:39.799 it's going to be. I don't know how useful it's actually going to be. 87 00:08:41.440 --> 00:08:50.559 I don't know how used it is actually going to be if you had 88 00:08:50.960 --> 00:08:54.279 look, I'm not saying that private industry should run everything, but you know, 89 00:08:54.039 --> 00:09:03.919 if you have a totally privately funded, you know, orts arena. 90 00:09:03.080 --> 00:09:09.279 In order for the guy who funded it, built it, owns it for 91 00:09:09.399 --> 00:09:16.559 that person to recoup his or her investment, that thing needs to be kept 92 00:09:16.759 --> 00:09:20.759 busy. Okay, you know the Save Mart Center for example. Now I 93 00:09:20.799 --> 00:09:26.240 don't know all the prison of state. I don't actually know who the ownership 94 00:09:26.320 --> 00:09:30.000 who owns the Save Mart Center. I don't know, but they try to 95 00:09:30.039 --> 00:09:33.840 keep that thing busy and filled. Okay, and Fresno State basketball has not 96 00:09:33.879 --> 00:09:37.919 been the money maker that maybe they wanted when they first when you know, 97 00:09:37.240 --> 00:09:43.240 Jerry Tarkanian was rocking in the in celen Arena. But you know, they've 98 00:09:43.320 --> 00:09:46.879 kept that thing busy and active. They're concert after concert after concert after concert. 99 00:09:46.919 --> 00:09:48.919 Have to concert that's happening at the Save Art Center all the time. 100 00:09:52.799 --> 00:09:56.759 So you have a certain investment, there's a recouping of that investment. Well, 101 00:09:56.360 --> 00:10:00.399 there seems to be this sort of blase attitude on the part of the 102 00:10:00.440 --> 00:10:05.720 state rail authority about we're gonna invest tons and tons and tons of money into 103 00:10:05.759 --> 00:10:09.759 high speed rail, but how many people are likely really really to use this 104 00:10:09.840 --> 00:10:16.480 thing, especially for this initial stage where all we're doing is Baker's Field to 105 00:10:16.559 --> 00:10:24.720 merced According to Gavin Newsom, so Gavin Newsom came into office and was basically 106 00:10:24.759 --> 00:10:28.279 looked like he was gonna wave the white flag on high speed rail, and 107 00:10:28.320 --> 00:10:35.279 then the labor unions got to him and Newsom kind of changed his tune to 108 00:10:35.360 --> 00:10:39.480 basically saying, well, high speed rail, what we're gonna do is we're 109 00:10:39.519 --> 00:10:45.840 gonna finish Baker's Field to mersaid, and that can demonstrate the viability of the 110 00:10:45.919 --> 00:10:50.919 system long term. Now, I don't know how Baker's field to Mersed demonstrates 111 00:10:50.919 --> 00:10:58.200 the viability of a system that was supposed to go from San Francisco to La 112 00:10:58.399 --> 00:11:01.360 or was it supposed to go, say Ircisco to San Diego. I mean, 113 00:11:01.519 --> 00:11:05.039 that would make more sense than San Francisco to La. Nonetheless, I 114 00:11:05.039 --> 00:11:09.320 don't know how this is going to demonstrate the viability of it going through the 115 00:11:09.360 --> 00:11:18.600 San Joaquin Valley. It's the flattest, least populous stretch of the high speed 116 00:11:18.720 --> 00:11:24.720 rail system that's been proposed. It's the flattest engineering wise, I'd have to 117 00:11:24.759 --> 00:11:28.559 imagine it's the simplest. You're not going through mountains, you're not going over 118 00:11:28.600 --> 00:11:35.120 the San Andreas fault. And as far as eminent domain seizures and getting the 119 00:11:35.120 --> 00:11:37.080 property, I mean, it's got to be a heck of a lot easier 120 00:11:37.080 --> 00:11:43.440 cutting off a corner of farmer McGregor's orchard than it is trying to get through 121 00:11:43.679 --> 00:11:50.600 you know, primo real estate in southern California or the Bay Area. So 122 00:11:50.639 --> 00:11:56.360 the costs, the cost for getting the land, the costs of litigation around 123 00:11:56.399 --> 00:11:58.240 getting the land in the eminent domain seizures. It's got to be less in 124 00:11:58.320 --> 00:12:01.039 the sane and I don't think it's been easy in the San Joaquin Valley, 125 00:12:01.039 --> 00:12:05.799 but it's gotta be easier than what it's gonna be in the Bay Area or 126 00:12:05.879 --> 00:12:15.440 Los Angeles. But it's also this, how much really is a merced to 127 00:12:15.480 --> 00:12:22.080 Bakersfield high speed rail? How much is that really gonna get used? The 128 00:12:22.120 --> 00:12:28.120 indications that even the high speed rail authority has been getting is that the numbers 129 00:12:28.120 --> 00:12:31.080 are dropping for people who are likely to use it. It's getting less and 130 00:12:31.159 --> 00:12:37.159 less and less and less. Because I mean, just realistically, what am 131 00:12:37.200 --> 00:12:41.080 I gonna do drive to a trains have someone drop me off at a train 132 00:12:41.200 --> 00:12:48.960 station in Fresno to get on a train to take it to Bakersfield for a 133 00:12:48.000 --> 00:12:52.919 train ride that'll probably take an hour. I gotta take twenty minutes to get 134 00:12:54.039 --> 00:12:56.960 to downtown Fresno. I gotta get on a train that's gonna make a couple 135 00:12:58.000 --> 00:13:01.600 of stops presumably along the way, so it'll it'll still take me maybe forty 136 00:13:01.600 --> 00:13:05.000 five minutes an hour whatever it's gonna take me to get to Bakersfield. It's 137 00:13:05.000 --> 00:13:09.000 not like we're just doing you know, two hundred twenty miles, just an 138 00:13:09.039 --> 00:13:13.600 absolute bullet the whole way there, two hundred twenty miles per hour all the 139 00:13:13.639 --> 00:13:18.360 way there. Then I'm in Bakersfield, and what do I do? Then? 140 00:13:18.399 --> 00:13:22.320 I gotta wait for another uber, presumably to take me to wherever I 141 00:13:22.360 --> 00:13:28.720 want to go. How useful is that as opposed to just get in my 142 00:13:28.879 --> 00:13:35.200 car right now and I'll be in Bakersfield in two hours. How much time 143 00:13:35.240 --> 00:13:37.960 are you really saving doing that? And probably it's gonna be a lot more 144 00:13:39.000 --> 00:13:43.159 expensive then. I mean, I know gas costs keep going up, up, 145 00:13:43.200 --> 00:13:46.159 up up up, but you know, the high speed rail ticket's not 146 00:13:46.159 --> 00:13:52.240 gonna be cheap. And that's kind of the disaster of this is that, 147 00:13:52.759 --> 00:13:56.879 you know, we're said to Bakersfield's not going to demonstrate the viability of anything. 148 00:13:56.919 --> 00:14:01.559 If nobody's riding on the thing. How's that going to work? When 149 00:14:01.559 --> 00:14:05.799 we return? I want to talk about the thing that really has killed the 150 00:14:05.840 --> 00:14:09.759 future prospects of the high speed rail. I think zoom that's next on the 151 00:14:09.799 --> 00:14:16.639 John Girardi Show. I think the real thing that's going to kill the high 152 00:14:16.639 --> 00:14:22.679 speed rail, even if they do successfully complete the Merced to Bakersfield stretch of 153 00:14:22.720 --> 00:14:28.279 it, The real thing that's gonna kill high speed rail is zoom and work 154 00:14:28.279 --> 00:14:37.039 from home arrangements. So let me explain the appeal of high speed rail. 155 00:14:37.480 --> 00:14:43.919 Was this idea that you could take the high speed rail. You could live 156 00:14:43.960 --> 00:14:48.240 in Maderra and you can take that high speed rail and zip up to Silicon 157 00:14:48.320 --> 00:14:52.919 Valley, look at his split, work at your high tech job. And 158 00:14:52.000 --> 00:14:58.799 the mobility that that would offer was it was pledged to us was going to 159 00:14:58.279 --> 00:15:07.240 radically fundamentally transform the economy of the San Joaquin Valley. You can just bloop 160 00:15:07.240 --> 00:15:11.559 boop boop b bi bapu boo bop back and forth between your nice, big 161 00:15:11.559 --> 00:15:16.919 old mcmanson in Maderra, Ranchos and then zip right up to San Francisco for 162 00:15:16.960 --> 00:15:24.240 your high tech, high powered job. And that's why I always believed and 163 00:15:24.279 --> 00:15:26.559 you could see this in the public opinion polling, like who supported the high 164 00:15:26.559 --> 00:15:31.879 speed rail the most, it was people in the Bay Area supported the most. 165 00:15:31.639 --> 00:15:35.919 People in Los Angeles were a bit more blase about it, and people 166 00:15:35.960 --> 00:15:39.480 in the San Joaquin Valley were the most blase about it. But people in 167 00:15:39.519 --> 00:15:43.600 the Bay Area supported the most. Why high speed rail was being viewed as 168 00:15:43.720 --> 00:15:52.399 a release valve a way for people in the Bay Area to live farther and 169 00:15:52.440 --> 00:15:56.639 farther away from their jobs, because that's just what's been happening. People in 170 00:15:56.679 --> 00:16:02.039 the Bay Area, in order to find a for housing, have basically had 171 00:16:02.120 --> 00:16:08.240 to move farther and farther and farther away south, giving them longer and longer 172 00:16:08.240 --> 00:16:18.759 and longer commutes into Silicon Valley into San Francisco for their jobs. They're moving 173 00:16:18.799 --> 00:16:22.320 farther and farther away because that's the only way they can find a place that's 174 00:16:22.399 --> 00:16:27.600 decently big enough to house a family, that's possibly affordable. And I think 175 00:16:27.639 --> 00:16:32.519 the dream, the real dream of the high speed rail system, it was 176 00:16:32.720 --> 00:16:36.000 much more, you know, I think it was being sold to people as 177 00:16:36.279 --> 00:16:40.320 well. What an amazing way to connect the whole state with high speed bullet 178 00:16:40.320 --> 00:16:42.279 trains taking you from Los Angeles to San Francisco. Look at his split. 179 00:16:45.240 --> 00:16:55.039 No, I think the real thing that was actually motivating it was the unsustainably 180 00:16:55.159 --> 00:17:00.679 high cost of housing in the Bay Area and people want wanted to move farther 181 00:17:00.679 --> 00:17:03.119 and farther away, and so this was the way that you could again, 182 00:17:03.160 --> 00:17:08.839 you could live in a mansion in Maderra or you know, Clovis or whatever. 183 00:17:10.160 --> 00:17:12.000 But you could still work at your job in Silicon Valley and still bop 184 00:17:12.119 --> 00:17:19.319 up there almost every day. Well, here's the problem. Zoom COVID happened. 185 00:17:19.519 --> 00:17:25.680 Zoom happened, and basically a whole bunch of people in Silicon Valley realized, 186 00:17:26.920 --> 00:17:30.240 do we actually need to be in the office to do all this stuff? 187 00:17:30.279 --> 00:17:36.880 If all we're doing is sitting at a computer? Anyway, do I 188 00:17:36.920 --> 00:17:41.920 really need to come into the office? And there are a lot of job 189 00:17:41.000 --> 00:17:42.920 now, I think there are a lot of jobs where, yes, you 190 00:17:45.599 --> 00:17:49.839 there is something better to being in the office. I think people are more 191 00:17:49.880 --> 00:17:53.279 productive in the office. I think they're more they get more done in the 192 00:17:53.319 --> 00:17:56.480 office. Like, I think there's a lot about that that is better. 193 00:17:56.680 --> 00:18:00.039 But frankly, there are a lot of jobs where maybe there's not that big 194 00:18:00.079 --> 00:18:11.880 of a difference, honestly, And the presence of Zoom allows people basically to 195 00:18:11.960 --> 00:18:18.759 say, Hey, I'm going to live in Madera, I'm going to work 196 00:18:18.799 --> 00:18:23.200 from home. Like why should I work from home in Silicon Valley just because 197 00:18:23.240 --> 00:18:26.400 that happens to be the general region where my office is. I'm going to 198 00:18:26.440 --> 00:18:33.039 live in Madera or Fryant or you know, Heck, I'll live in Clovis. 199 00:18:33.519 --> 00:18:38.720 Heck, I'll live in Nevada, void California state taxes. I will 200 00:18:38.799 --> 00:18:45.880 zoom into work every day. I'll do my job that's based in Silicon Valley, 201 00:18:47.000 --> 00:18:49.880 and that's it. Maybe I'll come to the office, you know, 202 00:18:51.400 --> 00:18:56.079 once or twice a month. But the existence of a high speed rail line 203 00:18:56.640 --> 00:19:02.559 to allow you to commute day after your day, you know, it's not 204 00:19:02.599 --> 00:19:04.839 really necessary. This is not going to be an arrangement, you know. 205 00:19:06.319 --> 00:19:14.039 I think the idea was, like people who live and this has been the 206 00:19:14.039 --> 00:19:18.880 case for years, for years and years and years in New York, people 207 00:19:18.920 --> 00:19:23.680 would live on Long Island and take a train into the city for their work, 208 00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:29.000 and they would commute that way day after day after day. And I 209 00:19:29.039 --> 00:19:33.960 think that was the thought behind the thought I've been hanging around my New York 210 00:19:33.960 --> 00:19:37.720 relatives lately. That was the thought with the high speed rail system was, 211 00:19:37.799 --> 00:19:41.400 yeah, people would repeat that kind of a model that people who live in 212 00:19:41.400 --> 00:19:45.039 Westchester County or Long Island, who take they get on the train, they 213 00:19:45.039 --> 00:19:48.400 go into the city, they do their job, they take the train back, 214 00:19:48.440 --> 00:19:51.559 they go home. That that was that's what it was going to be 215 00:19:51.640 --> 00:19:55.039 for the Bay Area people would live in Madera, they'd hop on the high 216 00:19:55.039 --> 00:19:59.400 speed rail train, which could go faster and travel longer distances, go into 217 00:19:59.400 --> 00:20:03.920 the city, do their job, commute back and use fewer cars, have 218 00:20:04.039 --> 00:20:08.799 fewer emissions, save the environment. You don't have you know, thousands and 219 00:20:08.799 --> 00:20:12.839 thousands and thousands of people commuting long distances to get through their jobs in Silicon 220 00:20:12.920 --> 00:20:21.599 Valley. Well, that's not gonna happen. Zoom is just maybe just gonna 221 00:20:21.640 --> 00:20:32.240 replace that altogether. Between Zoom, between the advent of electric zero emissions or 222 00:20:32.279 --> 00:20:37.960 relatively zero emissions vehicles anyway, what is the benefit necessarily the high speed rail? 223 00:20:37.000 --> 00:20:41.160 I mean, if California is gonna insist by twenty thirty five, which 224 00:20:41.279 --> 00:20:42.680 maybe by twenty thirty five, some of the high speed rail will actually be 225 00:20:42.720 --> 00:20:47.839 done. If California's gonna insist on, all new vehicles sold in California are 226 00:20:47.839 --> 00:20:52.519 gonna be zero emissions electric vehicles. If we're gonna insist on that anyway, 227 00:20:52.559 --> 00:20:59.680 that also undercuts the whole reasoning for the high speed rail. So I think 228 00:21:00.839 --> 00:21:08.240 Zoom, Microsoft teams all these you know, all these different ways of remote 229 00:21:08.279 --> 00:21:17.000 work, remote communicating, plus electric vehicles as they get more and more purchase 230 00:21:17.319 --> 00:21:22.279 within the car market. And look, I've been on the show ranting that 231 00:21:22.119 --> 00:21:27.559 one hundred percent new vehicle purchases being electric is completely insane for a long time. 232 00:21:27.759 --> 00:21:33.559 Nonetheless, electric vehicles are beginning to take over a larger and larger and 233 00:21:33.599 --> 00:21:40.200 larger share of the market. Eventually, the rationale for high speed rail is 234 00:21:40.279 --> 00:21:48.440 just going to go away. It's already gone away quite significantly. So there 235 00:21:48.480 --> 00:21:52.839 you go. High speed rail authority is just you know, they're celebrating fourteen 236 00:21:52.880 --> 00:21:56.319 thousand new jobs created and that's or allegedly fourteen thousand jobs, not quite, 237 00:21:56.559 --> 00:22:02.119 and that's pretty much all that they have to hold on to. When we 238 00:22:02.160 --> 00:22:04.240 return, since it's Holy Week, I want to tackle a couple of dumb 239 00:22:04.759 --> 00:22:11.480 modern recent Christian controversies, including all the debate about so called Christian nationalism and 240 00:22:11.480 --> 00:22:15.359 what Jesus would actually do with political power. That's next on the John Girardi 241 00:22:15.400 --> 00:22:22.920 Show. One of the big bugaboos on the left is the concept of Christian 242 00:22:22.400 --> 00:22:30.480 nationalism, and I admit I think this has gotten a lot more discussion in 243 00:22:32.720 --> 00:22:38.279 sort of Protestant in sort of liberal Protestant world than it has necessarily in the 244 00:22:38.319 --> 00:22:42.519 Catholic side of things, and I'm obviously i'm John Girardi show. I'm kind 245 00:22:42.519 --> 00:22:47.160 of on the Catholic side of the street over here, but I am interested 246 00:22:47.200 --> 00:22:52.640 in what's going on on the evangelical and non denominational or maybe very denominational Protestant 247 00:22:52.720 --> 00:22:57.279 side of the street. And Christian nationalism seems to be the big bugaboo on 248 00:22:57.400 --> 00:23:04.759 the Protestant left, the Protestant left to the soft Protestant right, and a 249 00:23:04.799 --> 00:23:08.079 lot of this has arisen really around the person of Donald Trump, the idea 250 00:23:08.160 --> 00:23:17.599 being that Christians who like Trump are too eager and desirous for political power, 251 00:23:18.160 --> 00:23:25.279 and that this desire for political power has corrupted them in lots of troubling ways, 252 00:23:26.319 --> 00:23:30.119 you know, to the point of excusing all of Donald Trump's various piccadillos 253 00:23:30.799 --> 00:23:37.079 and beyond just piccadillos, like genuine moral failings for the sake of political power. 254 00:23:37.920 --> 00:23:44.079 And January sixth is sort of like the high point of Christian nationalism in 255 00:23:44.119 --> 00:23:49.559 their view, that various kinds of evangelical Christians are willing to excuse an event 256 00:23:49.720 --> 00:23:55.200 as destructive to our republic as January sixth for this end, By the way, 257 00:23:55.240 --> 00:23:57.440 January sixth is not a good thing. I admit, I'm not saying 258 00:23:57.519 --> 00:24:03.559 January sixth was great. I think the extent to which it is being framed 259 00:24:03.240 --> 00:24:12.000 as the greatest disaster in our country's history since the Civil War, the greatest 260 00:24:12.039 --> 00:24:19.279 single attack on American democracy since the Civil War, I think is wildly overstated. 261 00:24:21.960 --> 00:24:25.720 Nonetheless, this is what it's been. This is what Christian nationalism is 262 00:24:25.720 --> 00:24:33.839 framed as, is using your basically taking your Christianity and using it as a 263 00:24:33.880 --> 00:24:38.960 pretext for the seizing of political power. That that is wrong, that is 264 00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:48.359 harmful. Now, there's a lot of this that I find dumb and convenient 265 00:24:51.279 --> 00:24:56.359 because I think Christians, yes, I don't, well a couple things. 266 00:24:57.319 --> 00:25:04.440 One, I don't think Christians should be blind or ignorant or excuse, say, 267 00:25:06.599 --> 00:25:08.400 Donald Trump's various moral foibles. I don't. I don't think we should 268 00:25:08.400 --> 00:25:12.720 be like, Yeah, Donald Trump acted so wonderfully on January sixth, trying 269 00:25:12.720 --> 00:25:17.400 to convince Mike Pence not to certify the election results when clearly he had no 270 00:25:17.640 --> 00:25:22.119 power not to. You know, I've I've repeatedly stated I think that was 271 00:25:22.359 --> 00:25:25.640 that was wrong on Donald Trump's part. I think it was a Kakamamy argument. 272 00:25:25.680 --> 00:25:30.279 He was pursuing that I think was incorrect. I think everyone who violated 273 00:25:30.279 --> 00:25:33.759 the law on January sixth should be punished in a fashion that is commensurate with 274 00:25:33.799 --> 00:25:37.279 what they did. Now, commensurate with what they did was for most of 275 00:25:37.319 --> 00:25:40.240 the people who've been prosecuted for January six I don't think should have been very 276 00:25:40.279 --> 00:25:42.559 much. I don't know that they should have been prosecuted. Most of them 277 00:25:44.440 --> 00:25:51.000 committed crimes like basically various species of trespass. Now, the guys who beat 278 00:25:51.039 --> 00:25:53.200 up cops, yeah, they should. They should be arrested. Yeah, 279 00:25:53.200 --> 00:25:57.440 those guys should be prosecuted, not me, maw, you know, wandering 280 00:25:57.640 --> 00:26:03.079 onto into Oh George, look they're letting us go into the Capitol. Yeah, 281 00:26:03.240 --> 00:26:07.319 she shouldn't be prosecuted because she happened to walk onto a piece of federal 282 00:26:07.319 --> 00:26:15.079 property. Now, one of the things that has prompted me to think about 283 00:26:15.079 --> 00:26:19.680 this was a tweet by this guy, Raymond Chang, who's the president of 284 00:26:19.680 --> 00:26:26.079 the Asian American Christian Collaborative, And I noticed it's a lot of these ideas 285 00:26:26.079 --> 00:26:33.480 are coming from either soft rite or outright liberal evangelicals with very comfortable jobs. 286 00:26:36.559 --> 00:26:41.279 And it's Holy Week this past Sunday, we had Palm Sunday, and in 287 00:26:41.319 --> 00:26:47.839 the Catholic and many other liturgical Christian traditions, on Palm Sunday, we commemorate 288 00:26:47.920 --> 00:26:52.839 Christ's sort of triumphal entry into the city of Jerusalem, where he was heralded 289 00:26:52.960 --> 00:26:57.240 as a king. And he wrote in on a donkey, and people laid 290 00:26:57.279 --> 00:27:00.720 the palm fronds on the ground in front of him and said Hosanna to the 291 00:27:00.720 --> 00:27:07.480 son of David. So this guy, Raymond Chang says, perhaps the greatest 292 00:27:07.480 --> 00:27:14.960 apologetic against Christian nationalism. This concept that liberal Protestants created just a few years 293 00:27:14.960 --> 00:27:18.279 ago, is in what we celebrate on Palm Sunday. Instead of riding in 294 00:27:18.319 --> 00:27:22.359 on a majestic horse, Jesus wrote in on a donkey, declaring that his 295 00:27:22.480 --> 00:27:26.799 kingdom is not of this world. He could have easily taken Jerusalem and overthrown 296 00:27:26.839 --> 00:27:30.440 the Roman Empire, but he didn't. If he wanted to make Jerusalem great 297 00:27:30.440 --> 00:27:36.000 again, there you go the trump polemic. He would have gone in as 298 00:27:36.000 --> 00:27:38.119 a warrior king or a conquering hero. Instead, he went in on a 299 00:27:38.160 --> 00:27:41.720 donkey, a sign of humility. The way of Christ is not one that 300 00:27:41.799 --> 00:27:48.559 takes power by force. It is one that comes in humble service. It's 301 00:27:48.599 --> 00:27:52.079 not about force or coercion, but of modeling a type of truth filled grace 302 00:27:53.319 --> 00:27:56.920 is does not and this is the key point. It does not seek to 303 00:27:56.119 --> 00:28:02.799 establish kingdoms, but call kingdom to serve the marginalized and vulnerable and oppressed. 304 00:28:03.359 --> 00:28:07.240 And what seems to be happening is it's almost this quietism, this idea that 305 00:28:07.319 --> 00:28:11.400 like, no, we Christians should just you know, we shouldn't be so 306 00:28:11.559 --> 00:28:15.559 engaged like this in the political process. You know, we should just you 307 00:28:15.559 --> 00:28:21.319 know, let things be that we shouldn't be so engaged in the political Basically, 308 00:28:21.359 --> 00:28:25.039 don't be so engaged in political processes. Don't vote for Donald Trump, 309 00:28:25.039 --> 00:28:27.880 I think, is the ultimate thing that they mean. It seems like they're 310 00:28:27.880 --> 00:28:33.279 fine for Christians when they're voting for George W. Bush because he was kind 311 00:28:33.279 --> 00:28:38.160 of a decent guy, but voting for Donald and there were certain norms that 312 00:28:38.200 --> 00:28:45.200 George W. Bush respected that Trump does not. Let's ignore, for George 313 00:28:45.240 --> 00:28:52.440 W. Bush the hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqi civilians as a result of 314 00:28:52.480 --> 00:29:00.960 the fact that he launched a strategically disastrous war of choice. Let's ignore, 315 00:29:00.200 --> 00:29:06.880 say, for Barack Obama, who is almost in this viewpoint seen as preferable 316 00:29:07.279 --> 00:29:11.440 to Donald Trump because he respects certain kinds of norms and was a personally decent 317 00:29:11.519 --> 00:29:15.039 guy and does it didn't, you know, try to over quote overthrow democracy. 318 00:29:15.839 --> 00:29:21.680 Let's ignore for Barack Obama that he continued that war that George W. 319 00:29:21.759 --> 00:29:22.960 Bush launched, did not stop. It did not stop the war, and 320 00:29:23.000 --> 00:29:33.480 againstan and on top of it, that Barack Obama supported the legal killing of 321 00:29:33.000 --> 00:29:40.200 hundreds of thousands of innocent unborn children every single year in the United States of 322 00:29:40.240 --> 00:29:47.920 America through abortion. I think it's this framing of things as if Donald Trump 323 00:29:48.039 --> 00:29:53.400 is this singularly bad guy. And I'm not saying Donald Trump's a good guy. 324 00:29:55.079 --> 00:29:59.519 I think he has his problems and they are pretty serious. George W. 325 00:29:59.599 --> 00:30:03.720 Bush had his problems. Barack Obama had really serious problems. Joe Biden 326 00:30:03.799 --> 00:30:11.079 has really really serious problems. But what are Christians supposed to do be disengaged 327 00:30:11.119 --> 00:30:17.640 from the process completely, not do their best with the time that's been given 328 00:30:17.720 --> 00:30:19.359 us, with the means that have been given us to try to say, 329 00:30:19.440 --> 00:30:30.279 what what can we do to bring about the most good possible the legal killing 330 00:30:30.400 --> 00:30:36.400 of Look, the Gutmacher Institute released it this year that a million abortions happen 331 00:30:36.480 --> 00:30:42.519 in twenty twenty three. One zero zero zero zero zero zero A million abortions 332 00:30:42.599 --> 00:30:53.079 in one year. It's staggering. It's flooring to think about what legal abortion 333 00:30:53.160 --> 00:31:00.880 in America is doing. Yeah, I would vote for Donald Trump if there 334 00:31:00.960 --> 00:31:06.839 was a chance that I could even save fifty thousand of them. And guess 335 00:31:06.839 --> 00:31:08.799 what, I'm willing a little bit to overlook the fact that he's on wife 336 00:31:08.799 --> 00:31:15.880 three point zero, as if Joe Biden is so much a better, more 337 00:31:15.960 --> 00:31:19.759 decent man, this guy who's trading in on his name with his son, 338 00:31:19.839 --> 00:31:26.759 with every corrupt government from you know, Ukraine to from Ukraine to Russia to 339 00:31:26.880 --> 00:31:32.799 Roman you know, this idea that there's such a greater level of personal integrity 340 00:31:33.000 --> 00:31:37.000 in the Obamas and the Bushes and the Clintons and the Bidens than there is 341 00:31:37.079 --> 00:31:41.640 necessarily in the person of Donald Trump. And again I'm I'm not protecting Donald 342 00:31:41.680 --> 00:31:49.759 Trump. He's a sleeve in various ways. But I'd rather have that and 343 00:31:49.920 --> 00:31:56.039 some restriction on abortion than none. And it's also this historic point that I 344 00:31:56.079 --> 00:32:06.200 think sometimes, I think sometimes Protestants who embrace the sola scriptura tradition, the 345 00:32:06.319 --> 00:32:09.079 idea that the only source of authority is found in scripture, and that there's 346 00:32:09.119 --> 00:32:14.920 nothing that sacred tradition or even Christian history kind of teach us about Christian history. 347 00:32:15.079 --> 00:32:16.720 I think there's a pitfall for them. You know what. Actually, 348 00:32:16.759 --> 00:32:20.480 I want to give more breath to this when we return. I want to 349 00:32:20.519 --> 00:32:23.880 talk about this idea that, well, Jesus didn't come to establish any earthly 350 00:32:23.960 --> 00:32:30.720 kingdoms. Well, there was maybe a decent role for the establishment of Christianity, 351 00:32:31.240 --> 00:32:37.519 of having Christian influence in government from a pretty early time. And if 352 00:32:37.559 --> 00:32:39.799 you don't think that, then you clearly don't know much about the Roman Empire. 353 00:32:39.839 --> 00:32:43.119 I'm going to explain that when we return. This is the John Girardi 354 00:32:43.160 --> 00:32:52.079 Show on Power Talk. The idea that Christian nationalism is super bad. Christian 355 00:32:52.160 --> 00:32:57.039 nationalism this concept that seems to have been invented at some point around twenty twenty 356 00:32:57.079 --> 00:33:00.960 one because Donald Trump is bad. In Janie six, was bad, and 357 00:33:00.960 --> 00:33:08.079 therefore Christians who try to pursue some kind of political power are therefore bad and 358 00:33:08.200 --> 00:33:15.079 terrible. But Christians who keep voting for Democrats who support legal abortion, oh 359 00:33:15.119 --> 00:33:17.920 no, there's nothing wrong with that. That's not necessarily what's wrong. Christians 360 00:33:17.960 --> 00:33:22.119 who vote for George W. Bush, who engages in a bunch of unnecessary 361 00:33:22.160 --> 00:33:25.079 wars that kill hundreds of thousands of civilians. Oh no, no, no, 362 00:33:25.119 --> 00:33:29.319 that's fine, No, no, no no. What's really problematic is 363 00:33:29.359 --> 00:33:34.960 voting for Donald Trump. Because January sixth, and again, I read this 364 00:33:35.000 --> 00:33:38.720 tweet. This gentleman named Raymond Chang as the president of the Asian American Christian 365 00:33:38.799 --> 00:33:45.839 Collaboration, And a lot of this rhetoric about Christian nationalism is coming from soft 366 00:33:45.960 --> 00:33:52.839 right and left wing Protestant leaders. And he talks about how this past Sunday 367 00:33:52.920 --> 00:33:59.440 was Palm Sunday. Perhaps the greatest apologetic against Christian nationalism is in what we 368 00:33:59.480 --> 00:34:01.720 celebrate on Palm Sunday. Instead of riding in on a majestic horse, Jesus 369 00:34:01.720 --> 00:34:05.799 wrote in on a donkey, declaring that his kingdom is not of this world. 370 00:34:06.119 --> 00:34:08.039 He could have eaten which he said his kingdom was not of this world 371 00:34:08.119 --> 00:34:14.840 on Good Friday. He was accepting all these plaudits, says the son of 372 00:34:14.920 --> 00:34:16.760 David. Anyway, Yes, I agree, his kingdom is not of this 373 00:34:16.840 --> 00:34:21.199 world. But we'll get to this. He could have easily taken Jerusalem and 374 00:34:21.199 --> 00:34:23.599 overthrown the Roman Empire, but he didn't. If he wanted to make Jerusalem 375 00:34:23.599 --> 00:34:27.880 great again, he would have gone in as a warrior king or a conquering 376 00:34:27.920 --> 00:34:30.880 hero. Instead, he went in on a donkey, a sign of humility. 377 00:34:30.159 --> 00:34:34.519 The way of Christ is not one that takes power by force. It 378 00:34:34.599 --> 00:34:37.960 is one that comes in humble service. It is not about force or coercion, 379 00:34:38.000 --> 00:34:46.880 but of modeling a type of truth filled grace. Okay, I don't 380 00:34:46.920 --> 00:34:53.719 think he kind of understands the Roman Empire very well if he's talking like this, 381 00:34:55.960 --> 00:35:00.800 And this is a I think a thing. If I may be so 382 00:35:00.920 --> 00:35:04.960 bold as to offer a Catholic criticism of Protestantism, and I say this out 383 00:35:04.960 --> 00:35:09.800 of love and respect for the various Protestant traditions, I think that a sola 384 00:35:09.880 --> 00:35:15.360 scriptura, the idea that the Bible alone is the rule of faith, can 385 00:35:15.480 --> 00:35:21.880 sometimes lead in some Protestants to having a kind of lack of appreciation for Christian 386 00:35:22.039 --> 00:35:24.320 history. And the idea is that, well, if it's not in the 387 00:35:24.320 --> 00:35:29.440 Bible, it has nothing useful to say to us. And I realize not 388 00:35:29.519 --> 00:35:31.199 every Protestant is like that. I might be painting with too broad of a 389 00:35:31.199 --> 00:35:43.159 brush. But here's the facts Christianity did become the state religion of Rome as 390 00:35:43.239 --> 00:35:52.800 soon as they possibly could. Christians tried to enforce various aspects of Christian conception, 391 00:35:52.039 --> 00:35:59.559 Christian and natural law conceptions of justice on the Roman Empire as soon as 392 00:35:59.559 --> 00:36:06.079 constant teen converted, as soon as we went from the Edict of Milan in 393 00:36:06.119 --> 00:36:12.719 three fifteen to various aspects of Christian justice being imposed on the broader populace. 394 00:36:12.840 --> 00:36:21.239 Why because the Roman Empire was a wildly, massively, murderously, blood drenched, 395 00:36:21.559 --> 00:36:32.320 unjust society. The Roman Empire saw the systematic sexual abuse of hundreds of 396 00:36:32.519 --> 00:36:42.599 thousands of slaves by their slave owners, the systematic killing of thousands and hundreds 397 00:36:42.639 --> 00:36:46.559 of thousands of newborns who were just not wanted. If you were a Roman 398 00:36:47.440 --> 00:36:52.239 free a Roman freeman, and you had a child with a slave and you 399 00:36:52.280 --> 00:36:54.880 decided you didn't want it, you just left the baby to die. If 400 00:36:54.920 --> 00:36:58.679 you had a child with your wife and you didn't want it, you could 401 00:36:58.760 --> 00:37:00.559 just leave the baby to die, or leave the baby at a crossroads where 402 00:37:00.559 --> 00:37:05.440 the baby would be picked up by somebody and raised as their household slave. 403 00:37:07.480 --> 00:37:19.199 Archaeologists are able to determine where Roman brothels were because they find the skeletons of 404 00:37:19.320 --> 00:37:25.840 children there, of babies. That's the kind of place the Roman Empire was. 405 00:37:27.000 --> 00:37:32.559 It was this blood drenched, horrifically unjust place. They would kill people 406 00:37:32.920 --> 00:37:39.000 in the coliseum just for fun, and Christianity stopped most of that. Christians 407 00:37:39.079 --> 00:37:46.440 getting political power and pursuing political power is actually a pretty good deal. So 408 00:37:46.800 --> 00:37:52.039 as much as you want to paint Christian nationalism as this horrible thing, understand 409 00:37:52.039 --> 00:37:55.960 what the alternative often is and is right now in America. That'll do it 410 00:37:55.960 --> 00:37:59.079 for John Girardi Show. See you next time on Power Talk.