Just over 18 months ago, I made the decision to retire from a very gratifying position I had been in for many years. As a frequent traveler, it was apparent airline travel had become overwhelmingly painful. This past week I experienced it again on a single non-stop flight with 6 delays. Trying to make it home the same day I changed my destination to a nearby city. Another hour and a half delay, and still did not arrive the same day. The core problem was staffing shortages at the FAA. Since taking office as the Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg has crippled the American transportation system.
Political favors, or in this case bribing your opponents with lavish positions, are common on both sides of the aisle. President Trump’s political favor to Jeff Sessions as Attorney General proved to be a disaster. At least Jeff Sessions was an attorney and knew the law but couldn’t handle the responsibility. Today we are experiencing what happens when the person has no experience or knowledge of the appointed position. The decision by Joe Biden to appoint Pete Buttigieg as Sec. of Transportation is destroying our country.
Democrats consider Pete’s 8 years as mayor of South Bend, IN as qualifying him for the position. A closer look at his tenure as mayor of South Bend shows a troubling resume. During his time as mayor, crime spiked, and race relations became more divided. He proposed 1000 new homes for the poor within 1000 days. South Bend already had the 5th highest home vacancy rate for similar-sized cities across the U.S. Coupled with high unemployment and low median income, South Bend had turned into a disaster.
His biggest failure for the city was his total disregard for the city’s infrastructure. South Bend became known as the city of potholes. The problem became so bad that Domino’s Pizza gave the city thousands of dollars to fix potholes as their drivers’ cars were being damaged. Private citizens took to the streets filling potholes in their own neighborhoods. Car repair shops were unable to keep up with the demand for repairs from the street damage.
Interestingly, the South Bend budget was nearly $350 million a year, but only $90,000 annually was allocated for pothole repairs. Mayor Pete dedicated a whopping .026% of the budget to a problem that was the worst in the state. The citizens suffered, the city declined, vehicles were damaged, and Mayor Pete didn’t care. In fact, Mayor Pete wanted cars off the roads and for people to bicycle to work.
The problem with Mayor Pete’s idea is South Bend is near the base of Lake Michigan and shares similar weather to its neighbor, Chicago. Winters are brutal in South Bend with wind chill factors often below zero. Blizzards roar through the area dumping many feet of snow. Mayor Pete’s climate agenda took precedence over his constituent’s needs.
Inept on a small scale doesn’t get any better on a larger scale, it makes it worse. On February 3rd, 2021, Pete Buttigieg is sworn in as the 19th Secretary of Transportation and things start to crumble. Immediately, his boss, Joe Biden, declares war on oil and global markets react doubling fuel costs. Couple that with forced vaccinations, mass resignations, and increased demand for goods, and the supply chain crisis begins.
As the crisis grows, Pete can’t deal with the issues and the White House forms a committee to investigate. Unfortunately, Pete is part of the committee, and they don’t come up with any real solutions. They ask truck drivers to work longer hours, but there’s no way to get the ships unloaded faster. The Summer drags on and the issues mount with no resolution.
Pete Buttigieg and his husband welcome home adopted twin babies and he takes off two months of paternity leave. During his time away, the crisis begins to turn around and supply chain issues begin to get worked out slowly. Ships find their way to the docks and goods again begin to flow to retailers.
Planes, trains, and automobiles, if it flies, are on rails, or drive on the roadways, Pete Buttigieg controls it. They are now all in a crisis since Pete took over. The airline industry is in a shambles while the government blames the carriers but doesn’t have enough FAA personnel. Delays, cancellations, and consumer anger are at an all-time high. Frequent ground stops from the weather cannot be caught up because there are not enough controllers. Each day the problem snowballs around the country, not only delaying passengers but also cargo.
Train derailments, delays, and lost cargo have become commonplace now. Major environmental disasters have occurred from the derailments without the Department of Transportation resolving anything. Pete Buttigieg shows up days after the disasters with that same deer in the headlight look, offering no solutions. The East Palestine, OH train disaster on February 3rd, 2023 was a shining example of how not to handle a crisis. Looking for leadership from the residents of a town under chemical attack, Pete was lost.
America’s infrastructure is as dilapidated as it’s ever been in history. Bridges across the country are rusting, and unsafe, with foundations crumbling. New roadways are slow in being replaced and repaired. The State of Texas builds superhighways ten times faster than the Federal government can, and with higher quality. Trillions of dollars have been procured for infrastructure, but very few projects are underway. Driving cross country used to be dotted often with road construction. Now the interstates are rough, torn up, and even dangerous with very few new construction projects going on. Looks like a repeat of South Bend, IN. Pete Buttigieg has crippled the American transportation system.
Publicly, when Secretary Buttigieg makes speeches, he usually speaks of climate change and how we need to get rid of cars. He promotes public transportation and bicycles as the solution for our new green deal. Bicycles and buses are not going to get the goods we need to survive to the retailers. The issues are the transportation systems and how they are now crippled due to his inability to lead the department.
While Joe Biden could ask for his resignation, it is doubtful he will. Congress could impeach him for gross negligence, but the democratically controlled Senate won’t convict him. It’s up to the rest of the American citizens to put pressure on him to resign. Our country cannot continue with our transportation systems in this crisis condition.
