This, however, will not get a 19-year-old across the continent in a day any longer. Incentives are out of whack.

Last Thursday I had paid more than $1,000 to fly my son home for Thanksgiving.

Instead I got an e-mail informing me his flight would be canceled due to mechanical problems. By that time, my son was being driven through the chilly Seattle rain to Sea Tac airport.

Jackson slept fitfully, ate badly and waited through the long night until the family was rewarded with an opportunity to drive down to Savannah to pick him up. Jackson's trip from Olympia, Wash., to Mount Pleasant took 25 hours.

Ironically, that same week, Republicans in Congress continued their wrecking mission to destroy any hope American's will someday enjoy high speed rail national transportation, defunding the West Coast corridor.

The French regard traveling at 190 miles per hour as necessary as good wine and five weeks of summer vacation to their quality of life.

The Chinese are now laying down track at the rate of thousands of kilometers per year. China could have transported my son by rail 2,500 miles in 12 hours, city center to city center, 13 hours faster than he flew.

Passenger air transportation has devolved to an exploitative, subsidized source of frustration which now moves Americans across the country at an effective rate of 150 miles per hour.

American trains crawl over rusting track at 60 miles per hour.

Republicans, despite what they say on the radio, thanks to lobbyists, contributions and airlines, are picking winners and losers. Airlines win.

Rail and travelers lose.

It all gets worked out on executive jets over the weekend where flying is still a pleasure at stockholder expense.

We could fix this by eliminating all subsidies for airline travel. However, all travel has been subsidized by government throughout history from the Roman roads and Santee Canal to Boeing's plant in Charleston.

A simpler solution is at hand.

It should be illegal for any person representing us in government or who is an officer in a publicly traded corporation, including specifically any airline, plane manufacturer or travel related business to be transported by any private aircraft.

They shall be required to purchase their flights through the public travel market, to board at the public gate and to travel on the same planes as regular people.

Since the president needs something to run a nuclear war from in a pinch, we'll let him keep Air Force One.

Airlines and planes won't work until the people who control them sleep in airports from time to time.

Congress won't work until they're riding the Metro to Reagan Airport with people who type for a living.

It's time to get on board together.

William Hamilton (www.wjhamilton.com) is an attorney who lives in I'On Village.