Stop the Wars, Fund the Train
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Tampa Tribune's Hernando Today
Brian P. Moore
03/03/2011
Re: Nugent's opposition to $2.4 billion train funding is same amount the 5th District has spent on war. "Locals react to rail plan rejection" by Michael D. Bates, Hernando Today , Feb. 19.
Congressman Richard Nugent's support of Gov. Rick Scott's opposition to the $2.4 federal funding of a speed train for Florida was discouraging news but not surprising.
And Hernando and Pasco counties' other representatives who voted for the governor and support his train veto actions — County Commissioner David Russell, State Rep. Robert Schenck, and former congressional candidate Jason Sager, are no surprise either. State Sen. Mike Fasano's urging a delay in the decision until a Florida Department of Transportation ridership study was completed also demonstrates weak leadership at best.
Seldom am I on the side of business interests in Florida and the Tampa-Orlando area; but when it comes to promoting mass transportation, local and state jobs, less dependency on fossil fuels, less highway congestion and a wider distribution of new community developments throughout the state, then such a project is worthwhile and should be touted.
Nugent and fellow state and federal legislators, with their so-called "fiscal concern" about our country and state's deficits, could have easily addressed this matter with better vision years ago, just as ordinary citizens in their civilian work, if they had stood up against their political party, the Congress and the president of going to war foolishly in the Middle East.
If Nugent is so concerned about a speed rail project as being "too costly" or because "the federal government takes such an enormous share of Americans' paychecks that there is little left for the state's basic responsibilities," then where was his voice in opposition to and participating in an eight-year war when it made little sense and knowing then that the financial costs would be high.
Nugent said in a statement last week, in supporting Gov. Scott's train money veto, that "the federal government is spending money it doesn't have."
Well, let's take a look at the numbers, Mr. Nugent. Right now, according to the National Priorities Project in Massachusetts, which uses federal government data, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, since 2001, have cost our country $1.157 trillion and counting.
The state of Florida's share of these wars has been at a cost of $63.5 billion.
Ironically, the amount of money spent on the wars from our own 5th Congressional District, which Congressman Nugent now represents, has been $2.27 billion so far; almost the exact amount, $2.4 billion that Gov. Scott is rejecting for funding a Florida speed train, which would have many positive effects on our state and its citizens and economy.
Hernando County taxpayers alone have paid out more than $436 million on the wars. Just our local jurisdiction alone, almost half a billion dollars and counting! And we have not even addressed the issue of 5,000 American soldiers' lives lost and the 100,000-plus injured.
If Mr. Nugent wants to be consistent, then why doesn't the congressman also feel these endless wars are "too costly" or that these unnecessary wars are causing "the federal government to take such an enormous share of Americans' paychecks?"
Opposition to the war and not supporting Gov. Scott's federal train funding veto are the most patriotic and financially responsible actions Congressman Nugent and his political colleagues should take now, if they really care about America and the state of Florida!
