Charlotte Observer columnist Mary Newsome made a classic appearance in the N&R last month. Her post on why conservatives hate trains is even better. Meck Deck’s cleanup is even better than that.

I’ll echo the notion that there’s no hate, just reality. There is no more money —that’s reality. None other than the New York Times said as much in its recent article on New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie:

Over the past decade, governors have exhausted all the easy options for eradicating, or at least hiding, deficits — building casinos and adding new fees, issuing bonds and securitizing tobacco revenue. Now, facing a painfully slow recovery and the end of stimulus spending from Washington, governors from both parties are finding that there are simply no more gimmicks left to exploit. They have to deal with what has long been an unspoken reality — that state governments have made a mountain of promises they can’t keep.

With that in mind, best thing to do is step back and really look at who’s pushing the hate.