I'm also on Assemblywoman Fiona Ma's mailing list, and just sent a response to this communication (see below).
In response to Marcy's question, "Would it not be good to have mass transit (like BART, Amtrak, etc) [rather] than automobiles?" I think there is no ultimate clear answer. Trains are in many ways more aesthetically pleasing, community-oriented (you aren't isolated from fellow travelers as much as in a private automobile), and environmentally friendly. However, cars offer more freedom, which in a society at risk of becoming a police state is a pretty powerful argument, perhaps a winning argument, in their favor.
Of course bicycles and other forms of alternative transit offer even *more* freedom, but are not as practical for longer distance trips. Cars are also rapidly becoming more environmentally friendly. Some libertarian environmental analysts, like Randall O'Toole, say that trains in particular among mass transit are environmentally wasteful and compare unfavorably to even the current generation of gas-burning buses. Aesthetically there is of course no comparison between buses and trains, imho, which I think explains the enduring popularity of trains, their many disadvantages notwithstanding.
Love & Liberty,
((( starchild )))