The Roads Must Roll

Larry Gaines is the top man on the Diego-Reno Road Town which is basically a giant moving sidewalk comprised of successively faster moving strips ranging from the five to the one hundred mile per hour strip. In this story these roads have replaced personal vehicles and America is completely dependent on the roads for its economic life. The story starts with Commissioner Gaines giving an Australian diplomat a tour so that he can decide if America’s transportation solution is right for Australia. Gaines invites Mr. Blekinsop to dine at Jakes roadhouse, one of the better restaurants on the hundred mile an hour strip, while they discuss the situation. Meanwhile down under where the mechanics of the road happen “Shorty” Van Kleeck the number two man on the road is addressing a meeting of the road workers union. He claims that under the functionalist doctrine the road technicians should be running the show.

As they dine Gaines and Mr. Blekinsop discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the road. The roads have made possible huge cities but have made those same cities hostage to the continuing smooth operation of the roads. Gaines explains that the safety features built into the roads make a mechanical failure extremely unlikely but that the true weakness lay in the men who maintain the roadway operation. He tells Mr. Blekinsop that the transport cadets are a semi military profession with many of the same traditions and disciplines that make west point so successful. Each is taught to believe that maintaining the roadways is a sacred trust which they must not under any circumstances fail at.

Without warning the hundred mile per hour strip on which they dine grinds to a halt. Exiting the restaurant they see that the ninety five mile strip is still traveling at full speed. A woman pressed forward by the pressure of the crowd touches her foot to the neighboring strip and becomes a human projectile mowing down her fellow commuters. Mr. Blekinsop is horrified at the resulting carnage and is appalled to see his genial dining partner of a few moments before has become an apparently indifferent automaton. He is unable to see the inner turmoil of Larry Gaines who despite being unable identify any personal omission feels responsible for each tragedy occurring around him.

They travel down inside where Gaines is contacted by Van Kleeck who informs him that he and the functionalists are now in charge of the road and it was they who had stopped strip twenty as a demonstration of their power. He tells also that he has placed explosives to destroy the road as a last resort should the military be called in. Gaines asks to meet in person to negotiate terms and Van Kleeck, pleased to have his former superior coming to him as a petitioner agrees.  Gaines over powers Van Kleek at their meeting and disarms the bomb. The revolt is put down and road operations resume as normal. 

Esprit de corp literally translates” spirit of the body”.  What it actually means in practical terms is unity, belonging, and a sense of loyalty with and to a given group. The Marines have it. A great part of their training is designed to instill this virtue. Sports teams, schools, corporations (which incidentally use the same word in their name) churches and the like all seek to instill this sense of unity. If you don’t believe me just tell a Marine that the navy is better, and then I would suggest that you duck.

In this story that unity has failed or to be more accurate it had blossomed into a sense of isolationism. We are better than they are; it’s a common sentiment and not a bad thing to believe if that belief comes from a sense of pride which in turn must come from an honest sense of the value that you and your group have to offer.  Also to be considered is of which group you are a member.  I work for a furniture manufacturing company, thus I am a part of that group, also I am a man, group two, I am middle aged, group three, I am quite tall, group four, heterosexual, group five, American , group six. You see the point and I have only covered a small portion of the groups of which I am a member. To pick one to the exclusion of all others as these men did would be foolishness. These men had families, friends, were church goers, had children in school, and were a part of their community. Those are the people that they had betrayed.

Interdependence is a way of life in any society. It results in benefit to all its members allowing us to specialize in what we choose for our work. Living alone completely cut off from the benefits of a cooperative society I would have to be a jack of all trades so as to provide for all my own needs. I am not up to the twenty hour days this would require. Milk the cow, plant and maintain the garden, grow wheat, harvest wheat, grind wheat to flour to bake my own bread in the oven that I had to build with the clay that I had to find and I don’t even know what yeast is so I guess I would have the bread unleavened. Build my own house with the tools that I made myself probably using rocks as I have no knowledge of metallurgy and even if I did I certainly would not have the time to make metal tools  in as much as I have to first build some kind of fireplace to keep myself warm since I will not have any blankets until I figure out how to shear the sheep with my stone tools and then make a spinning wheel so as to make yarn which I can then learn to weave into my very own blanket and I don’t think I will have time for a pillow this year. I don’t know about you but I like living in a cooperative society in which if I want yeast I will damn well buy yeast. Someone whom I don’t know and will probably never meet has provided me with this benefit for the price of a few pennies. I would like to take a moment and thank him and all of you who others who have made my life so easy.

In this cooperative society I have to worry about only about my own little piece of it. All of those who have come before me have made what I have chosen to do possible. An example of this is that whereas I have only the most basic understanding of how computers and the internet function I am able to bring you this blog.

This brings us to the other side of the coin. There are a select few who accept a greater burden so as to make this intricate machine that we call society work. My view of politicians is somewhat jaded. In order to be elected in these times a candidate must only have a charming personality and the willingness to make unsubstantiated promises. No actual expertise in management or firm grounding in economics is required for this most important task. So I won’t be talking about politicians. Appropriate to this story I will mention our mass transit providers. Whenever I get behind the wheel of a vehicle I am taking my life in my own hands, that’s okay ,it’s my responsibility and I’m used to it. Should I accept a passenger my responsibility level goes up significantly and as a consequence I become a more careful driver. This person has entrusted their life to me. That single most precious possession any of us will ever own and I am now responsible for it. Kind of makes you think doesn’t it. Then there are those who accept yet a greater burden. Bus drivers, train engineers, ships captains and commercial airline pilots whose job is to take into their care the safekeeping of many lives.

Here we have Larry Gaines commissioner for the Diego-Reno Road Town who has the most unenviable job of all. A warm, caring man who must by necessity take a detached view of all that happens under his watch.  This is a role that I have never had and to be perfectly honest I do not believe that I am capable of fulfilling. As with many in our culture I have learned an emotional detachment to the horrors that we all see on the nightly news. There is nothing that I can do to help these people. The world is so damned large and I am only one man. And yet neither can I do nothing so I help what individuals I can. Mr. Gaines is in a situation that requires a detached view and so he shows an apparently callous disregard for the plight of the individual.  Just as a pilot has the safety of the entire plane (passengers and crew) as his concern and cannot be concerned with any single individual so Larry Gaines must care for the entire road en masse. This to me seems an entirely repugnant task.  Should a pilot lose control of his plane resulting in a loss of life be it only one or the entire complement it would be more of a kindness if he be one of those killed. Living with the guilt of knowing that my failure had caused such misery to those surviving loved ones would be unbearable.  I have a great deal of respect for these conscientious men and women who make this commitment to our safety and well being not to mention to getting us where we are going.

Sincerely yours

The rational anarchist