This is Principled Bicycling, a newsletter discussing and exploring the various issues surrounding the bicycling advocacy rabbit hole with occasional tangents into semi-related topics such as energy, monetary policy, and skepticism of many cherished institutions. Tin foil helmets are optional.
Bicycling has a 120+ year history and has seen a handful of boom times - particularly in during 70’s Energy Crisis, the Great Financial Crisis of 2007-2009 and most recently the Covid-19 Pandemic. During each of these boom times, many enthusiasts of the activity have sought to further popularize bicycling as an alternative to other modes of transportation - particularly the private automobile and much of the modern advocacy we see today takes roots in these periods. Reasons for this include non-boom related events or issues including but not limited to land-use reform, environmental concerns (both local and global), public health concerns (addressing obesity, respiratory diseases from air contamination), and even addressing inequities among marginalized or underrepresented groups. Some of these as I hope to argue in future posts really can’t be adequately addressed by bicycling at the scale some proponents believe it could.
Bicycling is often viewed as a fringe and high risk activity outside specific “bubbles.” It’s not uncommon for people just getting into the activity and even long time veterans to state they feel unsafe (which often differs from objectively being safe or not) and have been subject to close calls - often with motor vehicles which will most certainly, at a minimum cause significant injury. There is of course a lot of nuance and context to be given in such situations, often to the chagrin of some bicycling advocates. But nevertheless this is a highly important issue for promoting the activity and it’s vital to present objective information. Often a feelings-first approach doesn’t match reality but a facts-based approach (which relatively does) is a difficult sell due to how human cognition works and with constant bombardment of propaganda promoting the former.
Interestingly enough bicycling is actually much safer than many believe, especially with good riding skills many can easily pick up in a short amount of time, following most if not all the rules of movement (yes there are edge cases, no worries, we’ll get to those someday) , and having a certain mindset which aids in properly assessing risk. Often those who are in the mindset of the previous paragraph experience far more issues, whether real or imagined but these individuals who seem to have constructed their conception of bicycling more on principles over platitudes often put in a great deal of safe, low risk, high mileage bicycling for a variety of purposes. The name of this Substack in part is derived from this difference in “visions” if you will (credit to Thomas Sowell) of bicycling. These two can be thought of as a principles-based vision and a platitudes-based vision.
Bicycling advocacy is fraught with efforts to essentially get more people riding bikes for whatever reason or combination of reasons. As a result, it’s easy for someone to be duped by ineffective and sometimes even counter-productive measures. In other words I hope to successfully argue not all efforts, despite the greatest of intensions, feel-good marketing, copious amounts of political will or funding, are created equal or are beneficial to all bicyclists. Often times bicyclists, just as many other groups are setup as pawns and it’s those who subscribe more-so into the platitudes-vision who fall victim the most.
Corruption, charlatanism, favoritism, and good old fashioned political power plays are a dime a dozen in this domain since bicycling is most of the time conducted for whatever reason on Government-owned property. Nearly all the issues above (land-use, environmentalism, public health, and equity/equality) are filled with dishonest rent-seekers often promoted by Government. That includes the politicians who answer to their enablers (most often not voters, sorry but we live in something resembling far more of an laundered oligarchy than a democracy or representative republic system), public servants and bureaucrats trying to keep their jobs (many useless), contractors trying to ensure bids and lobbying groups trying to keep their power, and positions. The illusion these organizations or many individuals inside them work for the every day person such as you and me is strong yet deceiving. This is all on top of the mess an often ignorant, if not flat out dishonest and out of touch, Corporate Press, and academics trying to increase their citation count and grant stream with new “research.” These fields are magnets for those with personality disorders, especially a Cluster B type. Oh, and we can’t forget lawyers.
The presentation on the product’s box doesn’t always match the actual contents. Many good people are sucked into this system’s belief system and world vision and then repeat its platitudes in a cult-like fashion. If there’s one circle that can be drawn around most in this system it’s the word, “Fiat.” And no, that’s not the car - it describes an overall approach and lifestyle based on the incentives provided by fiat monetary policies which distorts value and time preference.
If you can’t already tell, there will be a lot of buttons pushed here and a lot of tangents to be explored. Yet this is intended to be a journey to lead people out of this cult. It’s also intended to be a two-way street so comments and civil discussion in the comments section are welcome at any time. If the page picks up an opportunity may be made for guest posts as well.
