UPRR engineer wrote:Take it easy there QB 52.32, i was just pointing out a way in which we all might "get merged together" into one super railroad. Your the one who thought you were handing out facts, all i did was tell you that you might want to check again.
Government control of the railroads is a real issue/fear. Besides railfans, there are real railroaders who's jobs can be affected by what we face from Washington. We are a part of Railroad.net also. I hope you can understand that dude.
It doesn't matter whether you're a fan or employee, political opinions, rhetoric, name calling and propaganda have no place on a site devoted to railroading. I think Frailey has hit the nail on the head.
And after going through your posts over the years, I find it funny that when you expressed how railroaders are always worried about their jobs or the USA is going to crumble you never laid it at the feet of the conservatives, their ideologies, their policies or their leaders, with the name calling and rhetoric you've saved for Obama and the liberals, even though they were in power at the time and complicit in bringing about the things you feared.
As a railroader who has seen some pretty dark days and worked in T&E and management, I don't share your pessimism. Politics is like making sausage with checks and balances without the left or right able to completely push through their agendas. Just look at the Massachusetts senate election which will now provide a check & balance with Obama's environmental, economic and healthcare plans. That's the way its supposed to work. But, coming out of it is plenty of propaganda from both sides that needs to be tempered in order for a civil conversation, whether in the grander picture of our country but especially on a site like this devoted to railroading.
Lastly, dude, if you stop and think about it....wouldn't nationalization, though I'm not advocating it and don't see it as a reality in my lifetime, even though you're against it ideologically, probably provide your better ticket to job security? Don't you think what your management in Omaha is planning, like automation or crew size reduction, is much more of a job threat? Hasn't government intervention in railroading (Conrail) and autos (Chrysler) been a bipartisan economic issue over the years, and right or wrong, not lead to socialism? And, can you ignore Warren Buffet's huge play with the BNSF as a vote of free-market confidence in railroading and the economic landscape of our country?
No matter what you, me or any of us believe about politics (or religion for that matter), the bottom line for me is that it doesn't belong here.