Conflict that Benefits

I took a trip to the Oregon Coast yesterday. The first stop was in Florence, where myself and my comrade walked the regal jettys, marveled at the beached driftwood and astonishing cliffs, and pranced the untouched mile of sand.We managed to snag a bite to eat at a local seafood shack, where we scarfed down deep fried oysters, clams, and cod fish. My stomach had a field day with its brief vacation from campus dining.
We ventured to the sand dune recreation area a couple miles away to enjoy the sunset. We hiked over the heavenly natural wonders, taken aback by their magnificence and tranquil peacefulness. Our state of sheer comfort was interrupted, however; when two large pickups, with tires taller than my 5’11 status, roared over the dunes, and rushed into disruptive donuts on the beach. They sped down back and forth over the dunes at speeds up to 50 miles an hour, and I believe I even caught one truck trying to do a wheelie. I thought nothing other than the sheer waste of gas and the pleasures of a unnecessarily large pickup that are foreign to me, until my ride home.
Oregon highways are humble in their structure. Other than the major freeway in the state, I-5, the vast majority of roads are one lane, hilly, curvy roads where the speed limit is 55 mph. (Cars often speed 15 plus mph over this limit) During the day, these roads are scenic, empty, and rather pleasant to travel on. I found that at night, people were more aggressive, drove faster, and tended to tailgate my car, despite my 65 mph speed. Since there were no reflectors or lights on the road, precipitation covered the pavement, and it was narrow and curvy; it was a less than desirable experience to drive on.
Japan has just implemented a train into their infrastructure that goes the entire length of their country at 400 mph speeds. In South America, you can get anywhere in the continent by bus, easily. In England, their train and bus system gets more than high usage, and the cars that are on the road resemble lego toys compared to our monster truck SUVs.
Why, in the country that has just as many scientists as Japan, and a bigger economy than England, is it so difficult to travel by bus or train? If I wanted to get to Portland from Eugene, a two hour commute by car, I’d have to pay near 60 dollars. The money it would cost for gas wouldn’t exceed 16 dollars. I am curious why our gas has gone from $4.50 to a $1.69 national average within the same 6 months.
Our infrastructure is extremely weak compared to the rest of the world, because we let our car companies dictate what we will drive. We let oil companies dictate how much we will drive. We let public train and bus systems how little we will use their mode of transportation. It is true that San Francisco has an excellent train system in place, (The Bart) and it is true that Eugene and Porland, Oregon, have highly effective, highly used bus systems; but if I wanted to get from Eugene to San Francisco, it would take me over 18 hours by train.
Perhaps if we demand public transportation, the price will drop and the quality will rise. The rules of macroeconomics will reign true if we demand them too. Consumers have the choice in this nation, it is our first amendment right to say what we want and how we want it. We will have the same problems as long as we choose not to act on them. Let us become the change that is preached to us, by creating it ourselves.