New York’s Subways and the Crisis of Government | Power Line

New York’s Subways and the Crisis of Government | Power Line:
"Earlier this month, the U.S. Conference of Mayors vowed to change the Earth’s climate:

Mayors from across the country…pledged Friday to take the lead in reducing the nation’s carbon footprint after President Donald Trump withdrew from the Paris climate agreement.

“There will still be leadership from the United States,” Brainard said in a call with reporters organized by the U.S. Conference of Mayors. “It’s going to come from the mayors of the country.”

***

“If you are a mayor and not addressing shifts in changing weather patterns or preparing for the impacts of climate change you aren’t doing your job,” [Pittsburgh Mayor William] Peduto, a Democrat, said in a statement...

...But then there is this:

For months, the city’s aging transportation infrastructure has served New Yorkers one fresh outrage after another....

And this:

The New York City subway system, by far the largest and best public transit system in the United States, has reached a crisis level of dysfunction over the past few months, with serious congestion, delays, and a recent derailment in Harlem that injured 34 passengers. In a delayed response, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) declared a “state of emergency” on Thursday and ordered the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to produce a reorganization plan to fix the problem.

And this: “Every New York City Subway Line Is Getting Worse. Here’s Why.”

And this: “Some subways are literally held together with zip ties.”

And even this: “Snake hangs from pole for ride on New York subway.”

Many others–Glenn Reynolds, for one–have made the point: as the ambitions of our political class become ever more grandiose, its ability to effectively carry out the basic functions of government has withered. 

New York’s Mayor vows to cool down the surface of the Earth, something entirely outside his jurisdiction, but he cannot competently administer a subway system.

The same is true at the federal level. 

Our politicians want to create Heaven on Earth, extinguishing every scourge that has bedeviled humanity for millennia, from poverty to ill health and on and on. 

But can they balance a budget? 

No. 

Can they control the nation’s borders, one of the fundamental duties of any sovereign state? Apparently not.

When it comes to practical reality, our political class is incompetent."