For my final paper in my Contemporary American Politics class, I wrote a position paper advocating for conservatives to support the construction and implementation of high-speed rail throughout the United States. I strongly believe that this is a very important issue for our overall progress and standing as a nation, and I think that there are many legitimate reasons conservatives should support it. Rather than post the entire six pages, I have posted my thesis paragraph below:

Now is not the time for more frivolous spending by the federal government. With our current budget deficit standing at $1.65 trillion, two wars costing $177.8 billion for this fiscal year, and an unemployment rate standing at 9.2%, the federal government should be seeking to curb existing spending rather than add new programs to its repertoire. While Republican congressmen, senators, and governors across the country have recently sought to cut excessive programs, their approach has been shortsighted in terms of funding our nation’s infrastructure. Beginning with economist Adam Smith in the eighteenth century and continuing in the United States until relatively recently, free market conservatives have recognized the importance of constructing and maintaining efficient infrastructure. Fifty-five years after Republican President Dwight Eisenhower championed the advent of the Interstate highway system, and nearly 150 years since Republican President Abraham Lincoln signed into law the Pacific Railway Act to establish the Transcontinental Railroad, it seems that the Republican Party has lost its way, especially in terms of its opposition to the construction of high-speed rail. Building high-speed rail across the United States should be a conservative rallying point. In addition to upgrading and modernizing our severely outdated transit system, high-speed rail would create new jobs of every skill-set and income bracket a time when unemployment is staggering. If built and run through public-private partnerships, it would open up new opportunities for corporations to invest in American ingenuity while taking some of the financial burden off of the government. High-speed rail would allow Americans greater access to travel around the country and would encourage airlines and automobile manufacturers to compete for service. Furthermore, it would have a tremendous effect in leading America toward energy independence, and thus greater national security.