The problem is the balance between enforcers and enforcees.

An example is the now defunct Special Prosecutor Law. By the time the Special Prosecutor was done with Clinton, not even his enemies wanted to renew the law. Most in Congress felt that the balance between enforcer and enforcee was unbalanced since there was a prosecutor with only one person to prosecute. Society usually maintains this balance by having a prosecutor limited by at least some limits on his or her resources and by having many crimes to pursue.

If you can now be stopped for not wearing a seat belt, or if a camera is starting to watch your every move, whither balance?

Last summer, my son had to travel to NYC. For reasons not relevant here, his choices were to take the train from Cincinnati or the bus from Columbus. Since he was starting in Columbus and his friend was starting in Cincy, either city seemed equal as a starting point.

Like most people, he liked the IDEA of the train. At least he would have more room, could walk around, and well, it would be a train and not a bus.

But then-reality. The Amtrak subsidized train cost about twice as much as the bus. And much to our surprise, the bus took twelve hours while the train took seventeen!

Hey! Almost all of us like the idea of a train. Think: Arlo Guthrie, etc… (OK, this may not the best analogy on this web site ). But I imagine that Ohio could get a great train that lots of people would take–once or twice–for the fun of it, but that the cost and timing, even with subsidies, would not make it a routine first choice.

So my son took the bus. It was not the most enjoyable experience, and he hopes to be in a position to try something else next time. But by something else, he means fly or drive. Not a good omen for the trains.