Should Freedonia have a People's Railroad?
August 15, 2016
Jane Whittlesback
Since the return of democracy to the United States, the Unity coalition in government has been avoiding the topic of nationalization fearing the worst days of Red September repeating themselves. Michael de Spinoza of the Patriot's Party (PP) has been a stringent proponent of nationalizing rail in the United States, favoring Wisconsin and Shoshone's models for state-run railroads. The Reformed Worker's Party of America (RWPUSA) however has favored the Nebraska model of publicly owned railroad cooperatives with state and federal support, known as the Nebraska model for the state's infamous railways. President Jackie O'Hare has avoided commenting one way or another, stating 'The purpose of my government is a return to normalcy, all other matters can be settled by my successor". Popular sentiment seems to point to a public desire for nationalizing railroads, with a 2015 referendum in Freedonia on the topic of public railroad expansion seeing 62% voting for a public railroad cooperative expanding the lines in the capital. With the exceptions of Albany, NY and Annapolis, MD, all of the previous capitals of the United States have at one time had public or state-owned railroads. What makes Freedonia the exception?
The conception of Freedonia in the aftermath of the Bahamas War meant the Federal district was essentially to be run by the President as Commander-in-Chief. The Freedonian Transportation Authority was appointed directly by the President, and was built essentially to manage and control the population of Freedonia. Transport would bring federal workers into the city, and bus them out at night, with Freedonia being first and foremost a military outpost. In 1911, when the railroads were nationalized as part of the First Red Scare, The Bureau of Tranportation was created to maintain and ship personnel and equipment around the United States. The Dirty War period of the 1930s would see Freedonian rule of the rails become corrupt and inept, with the Dodge City collision and Fishtown Chlorine spill each killing over 50 civilians. This would continue into the First Spring and Second Oligarchy periods, with the rails eventually falling to private hands as the US began the process towards democracy once more in the 1990s. Since 1998, the private entity Freedonian Transit Authority has administered the tracks.
Many Freedonians have criticized the FTsA, but their suggestion of emulating the Nebraska Public Railroad should be approached with a critical eye as well. The Nebraskan Public Railroad arose from the unique situation of many Nebraskans during the First Spring. Organized initially around the populist Abraham Washington, The Nebraskan People's Railroad Cooperative was begun to protest the railroad charging exorbitant amounts for shipping grain and cattle. The Democratic state gov't intervened to keep the NePRC calm, but escalations up to and including sabotage and train robbery became a political crisis. The 1948 elections saw the ousting of the Democrats and the entry of Washington's Peoples Party. The NePRC and Nebraskan state gov't met halfway, with both contributing money for constructing and maintaining railroads for their own purposes of transporting grain and travel. The use of the railroads increased during the Confederate collapse, as poor Southron blacks and whites would seasonally and return to Reservations in Omaha and Council Bluffs, Iowa during the off-season. The Second Oligarchy found the NPR too popular to be fully privatized, though exerted significant authority by opening the NPR to private interests. Democratization would see the return of public-ownership, with Central City putting a cap on private investment in the NPR at 9%.
The NPR has significant investment from both the state and federal level, constituting close to 58% of the funding for the railroad, often criticized as a white elephant for the state. The NPR continues to exist as a politically popular white elephant, however. Profits have only broken even on years when meat and grain prices are high. President O'Hare seeks not to comment or intervene on the situation, but she should be wary if a NPR-style project is undertaken in Freedonia, as the Federal government exclusively will bear the burden of keeping a People's Railroad in the Federal Capital.
