Why Republicans Should Love High Speed Rail

House Republicans want to kill this? Say it ain't so.

According to the Wall Street Journal, House Republicans are going to fight President Obama's passenger-rail plans. Why? We are attempting a new era of bipartisanship to move this country into the 21st century and the GOP is blocking the one issue everyone should be able to agree on. Again, I ask why?

Earlier this week Vice President Joe Biden, a formerly frequent Amtrak train traveler from Wilmington, Delaware to Washington, D.C., spoke at Philadelphia's 30th Street Station about the importance of rail travel in America and the White House's plan to invest $53 billion over the next six years on building and upgrading passenger rail lines to achieve true high speeds similar to what Europeans and Asians have been enjoying for decades.

So these shortsighted Republicans would like to continue to hold American citizens hostage to an antiquated 20th century passenger rail network while traffic worsens and the grip tightens on our addiction to foreign oil. It just doesn't make sense. Not only does the GOP want to cut funding for high speed rail, but they want to cut funding for Amtrak as well. All in the name of the deficit and taxes -- two familiar themes the GOP loves to talk about that have no basis in reality when it comes to modernizing our badly outdated transportation infrastructure.

But shouldn't Republicans be for improved passenger rail service? It creates jobs, helps American business be more competitive by reducing travel times, conserves the environment by reducing the carbon footprint, and increases our national security by lessening our dependence on foreign oil.

I thought conservatives were all about "conserving," which should apply to energy and the environment. I also thought conservatives were all about making it easier to do business. Wouldn't zipping on a high speed rail line from DC to NYC or LA to SF increase productivity? And what about all the talk of increasing national security by reducing our dependence on foreign oil?

Does the rigid ideology of obstructionism, deficit hawkism and anti-tax fervor trump all that?

It appears some House Republicans would like us to lose the future. I hope Obama doesn't let that happen.