*I’ve flipped the meaning of a word for Progressives. They’re now officially known as the “Oppressives.” Period.
Meanwhile, George Will’s piece (here) which has the likes of Earl Bow Tie Blumenauer all a twitter, is about how the Oppressives here are doing everything to remove choice from transportation.
In the piece called, “Ray LaHood, Transformed,” Will chronicles how the Transportation Secretary has been taken in by the Light Rail Mafia enthusing at a recent meeting of the two,

He says, “People are getting out of their cars, they are biking to work.” High-speed intercity rail, such as the proposed bullet train connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco, is “the wave of the future.” And then, predictably, comes the P word: Look, he says, at Portland, Ore.

Riding the aforementioned wave to Portland, which liberals hope is a harbinger of America’s future, has long been their aerobic activity of choice. But LaHood is a Republican, for Pete’s sake, the party (before it lost its bearings) of “No, we can’t” and “Actually, we shouldn’t” and “Not so fast” and “Let’s think this through.” Now he is in full “Yes we can!” mode. Et tu, Ray?

Where to start? Does LaHood really think Americans were not avid drivers before a government highway program “promoted” driving? Does he think 0.01 percent of Americans will ever regularly bike to work? Intercity high-speed rail probably always will be the wave of the future, for cities more than 300 miles apart. And as for Portland …

Bow Tie Blumenauer is calling the classical Will a throwback living in a “one dimensional past one that the city of Portland has successfully overcome.”
And then he issues a Twitter throwdown to see if Will can cut it on tweetdeck.
We realize that Earl is having trouble drumming up interest beyond the bicycle crowd, but, seriously, a Twitter throwdown?
And the reason I know about that is because Bow Tie issued a press release about it. A press release in which he claims that the city has,

“increase[d] productivity, boost[ed]our economy, and invest[ed] in our economy by taking a well rounded approach to transporation.

Who’s kidding whom?
12% unemployment translates into “increased” productivity? Losing businesses somehow creates “productivity?” Only in Washington DC and the People’s Republic of Portland, run by the Oppressives, would that make sense. Maybe they’re smoking medical marijuana or something.