There is, among others, also a fight on the future of infrastructure in the US. And in the midlle of the quagmire: Portland, OR. Back in the 1970s, Portland chose a different apporach: instead of taking more federal money on extending the Highway system, the city developed a tough urbanzation plan including public transportation. (For Europeans this might still seem cute and small, but still! For a comparison, see this PBS-documentary.)
Now, critics say three nasty things about Portland: 1. public transportation is not the American way. 2. Portland is a city for white hippies, and its program is useless for any other metropolitan area. 3. Portland is suffering from the regulatory politics.
The first argument, of course, is stupid in itself, and George Will is simply dumb (see Steven Colbert on “Satan’s legtubes”); but it remains a powerful political argument in a country that heavily relied on suburbanization. The other two arguments might have some truth. If that means that the American way of unlimited and cheap energy available to support housing sprawl and gasguzzling, I d not know. But I am looking forward to find out more about Portland, OR myself ..