[mstade]

> That’s twice as long as it took the United States to defeat the Axis powers, twice as long as the Civil War, longer than the time that elapsed between John Kennedy’s “We choose to go to the moon” speech and landing Americans on the moon."

Implying the United States defeated the axis powers on their own is a bit rich – don't you think?

Disregarding the revisionism of your comment, this seems to be a common argument in discussions like this and I wonder why? Isn't it fairly obvious that those ambitious undertakings were either due to significant political will or being forced by danger of death, whereas repairing a subway most probably carries none of that weight? So those responsible must fight tooth and nail to convince the powers that be of the necessity of the work, probably end up being underfunded anyhow, and of course all this requires the responsible (political) parties care enough in the first place.

It seems like a pretty unreasonable argument to me, but maybe I'm missing the point.

[JackFr]

I don't think the point was to imply that the US beat the axis powers on their own, but rather to put the timeline in perspective.

Notwithstanding that, you are missing the point. The failure to rebuild the tunnel is at its heart a failure of leadership. We have the technology, we have the money, what we lack are political leaders with will and vision.

In the examples you brought up, FDR led a nation dragging their heels into a war most people were happy to stay out of. He showed leadership and no small amount of political skill to get the United States into a war most wanted to avoid (which makes the 'beat-the-axis-singlehandedly' trope even more ironic.) Similarly with Lincoln and the Civil War. Many people were content to live with the status quo of slavery. And so with Kennedy and the moon landing -- the Cold War was not an existential threat, and the leadership of Kennedy generated the will.

To get a subway tunnel repaired doesn't need a once in a century or once in a generation leader, but it does take some will and vision and political savvy. The venal mealy-mouthed bums we're currently stuck with are simply not up to the task.