The System Map of France.

At over 260,000 square miles, and with a population of over 65 million people, France is not a small country. For comparison, the total area of France is larger than Ohio, Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, South Carolina and West Virginia--combined.



And yet a country such as France can have a system map that rivals independently each one of these states. The mobility for the French, and for the rest of Europe, acts as a catalyst for more business opportunities, higher quality of life for the citizens and for sustainable infrastructure that doesn't need to be updated every 20 years. Why, oh why, does the United States rely so heavily on the automobile when other countries provide transportation options like this to their citizens which in the end raise the standard of living for everyone?

Just look at how the many nations of Western Europe have built a system together that mutually serves their part of the continent! Why is it that "the best country in the world" can't even get rail into the states like Texas with 34 million people, or in Ohio with 12 million, yet it can be done all over Portugal with 10 million?

I realize it just seems like I whine and complain incessantly about the void of transportation options in this country, but I just feel so helpless. Even with my rants, the people I am close with have no desire to demand change. Much less do the other 304 million people care! They are far more concerned with watching spectacles like Glee or American Idol than actually caring about the state of country that they call the greatest in the world.