In an article published in Hawaii Reporter yesterday, national writer Danny de Gracia speaks out against Kirk Caldwell’s absurd debate performance. de Gracia writes:
During last night’s mayoral debate, former Honolulu managing director Kirk Caldwell sarcastically asked retired Governor Ben Cayetano whether or not he would ask President Kennedy what his backup plan was in response to his challenge to go to the Moon. I think it’s worth reminding the former managing director of a few things:
Funny Caldwell should mention going to the Moon, because the cost of a single Saturn V rocket launch was $185 million in 1969. By contrast Honolulu Rail is $5.3 billion. One could therefore say it is cheaper to go from the Earth to the Moon than from Kapolei to Manoa. (And for those of you wondering, the last Space Shuttle launch into orbit only cost $450 million.)
de Gracia goes on to remind Honolulu voters that contrary to the claim that “it will take World War III” to stop rail, the people have an enduring right to stop it at any time no matter what the politicians say:
This being said, one can’t help but concede that space travel and Honolulu Rail do have one thing in common: both have out of this world, astronomical costs to taxpayers. But it’s time to come back to Earth. And contrary to what our special interest funded politicians say, rail is not a done deal. When politicians start saying “rail will not be stopped” or “it will take World War III to stop this” – and yet a majority of voters oppose the project – that ought to tell you we have a failure of democracy and its time for new elected officials. The Declaration of Independence tells us “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it.”
Yes, Honolulu, you have a right to alter and abolish Honolulu Rail. In a free society, when the majority of the people demand a change, it’s the job of their elected officials to make it happen. No excuses. Honolulu works for us, we do not work for Honolulu.
Read the rest of the article by clicking here.
In 1969, the Federal deficit was a modest 354 billion. Today it is closing in on 16 trillion dollars. Times have changed. We are broke, and our deficit has actually become a threat to our national security. Look no further than the turmoil in Greece to see what things might become like. Google fixthedebt.org to see how serious the problem is. Just like the 700 billion dollars that was pretty much wasted on so-called stimulus, we simply cannot afford to keep spending money on lavish projects. And that’s what the rail is—a cash cow for a select few that 85% of us will not ride, but 100% of will be paying for. We didn’t need a backup plan to go to the moon because we weren’t on the verge of bankruptcy. Now is a different time and we do need backup plans, which the other candidates do not seem to care about. Why should they? They seem happy to spend other people’s money.