The Patriot Post® · Court Deals Blow to Amtrak Power

Last week, a federal court ruled that the practice where Amtrak writes the nation’s railroad regulations was unconstitutional. Thanks to a piece of legislation in 2008, the passenger railroad company was given the power to write regulation for the whole industry, every line of freight rolling through the heartland, every tanker car transporting oil from the North Dakota oil fields, every antique rail line demonstrating the golden age of steam-powered rail. Immediately, this arrangement should smell to high heaven because the charter for Amtrak passed by Congress in 1970 declared the passenger rail service “shall be operated and managed as a for-profit company.” This is what the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia thought about that arrangement: “The due process of law is violated, when a self-interested entity is ‘intrusted with the power to regulate the business … of a competitor.’”

Interestingly, this ruling comes as more Millennials turn to cars and away from mass transit. Furthermore, while the Obama administration threw 28% of the transportation budget in 2014 toward mass transportation projects, only 2% of travelers actually utilized those transportation methods. Why? Because Obama wanted to destroy America’s dependence on oil. Electricity prices were going to skyrocket, he said. People would have been forced to wait for busses and spend their time scheduling trains. Instead the Liberty-loving public clung to cars, being the independent people we are.