--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Forever seeking Archimedean levers for…" description: "\"“Forever seeking Archimedean levers for prying the world in directions they prefer, progressives say they embrace high-speed rail for many reasons—to i..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f4d/george-will-1177_collectivism_forever-seeking-archimedean-levers-for-p_1809386.png" --- # Forever seeking Archimedean levers for prying the world in… ![“Forever seeking Archimedean levers for prying the world in directions they prefer, progressives say they embrace high-speed rail for many reasons—to improve the climate, increase competitiveness, enhance national security, reduce congestion, and rationalize land use. The length of the list of…” quote by George Will](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f4d/george-will-1177_collectivism_forever-seeking-archimedean-levers-for-p_1809386.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f4d/george-will-1177_collectivism_forever-seeking-archimedean-levers-for-p_1809386.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f4d/george-will-1177_collectivism_forever-seeking-archimedean-levers-for-p_1809386.png) > ““Forever seeking Archimedean levers for prying the world in directions they prefer, progressives say they embrace high-speed rail for many reasons—to improve the climate, increase competitiveness, enhance national security, reduce congestion, and rationalize land use. The length of the list of reasons, and the flimsiness of each, points to this conclusion: the real reason for progressives’ passion for trains is their goal of diminishing Americans’ individualism in order to make them more amenable to collectivism.”” [George Will](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-will/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Progressives promote high‑speed rail citing many benefits, but the underlying motive may be to reduce individualism and foster collectivism. **In simple terms:** Rail advocates list many benefits, yet may aim to curb individualism. Key Takeaway Question the true motives behind policy advocacy. Themes politics transportation individualism collectivism environment Mood critical analytical Type opinion political commentary When to use this quote - urban planning - environmental policy - political campaigns - public opinion - transportation projects Key Concepts public policy social engineering infrastructure culture Questions to Reflect On - Are the environmental and economic benefits sufficient on their own? - How does collective benefit balance with personal freedom? A Different Perspective The benefits cited are genuine and may outweigh any ideological agenda. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Collectivism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/collectivism/) [Conservativecrap](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conservativecrap-36921/) [Cybersecurity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cybersecurity/) [National security](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/national-security/) [Prefer Progressives](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prefer-progressives-2101371/) [Progressives](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/progressives/) [Progressivism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/progressivism/) [Rail Reasons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rail-reasons-2101369/) [Reason Progressives](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reason-progressives-2101370/) [Right-wingers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/right-wingers-159332/) [Speed Rail](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/speed-rail-1780331/) ## Related quotes > [Many people ... prefer to describe themselves as progressives rather than liberals. 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But at the heart of it what high-speed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-adonis-baron-adonis/efficiency-connectivity-and-productivity-are-all-economic-buzzwords/) [Andrew Adonis, Baron Adonis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-adonis-baron-adonis/) > [California's High Speed Rail Project is a failure, and not one more taxpayer dime should go towards this money pit project.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-steel/california-s-high-speed-rail-project-is-a-failure-and-not-one-more/) [Michelle Steel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-steel/) > [If we do high-speed rail, the governor has to be intelligent and invest the dollars at the 'bookends' - San Francisco and Los Angeles.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-de-leon/if-we-do-high-speed-rail-the-governor-has-to-be-intelligent-and/) [Kevin de Leon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-de-leon/) > [China has gotten high-speed rail right, where the United States has not.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-deese/china-has-gotten-high-speed-rail-right-where-the-united-states-has-not/) [Brian Deese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-deese/) > [We seem to be committing ourselves to an eye wateringly expensive railroad for the few. High speed rail plan is madness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mike-rutherford/we-seem-to-be-committing-ourselves-to-an-eye-wateringly-expensive/) [Mike Rutherford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mike-rutherford/) > [“Zhengzhou East Station was one of the largest high-speed rail stations in the world. Its boarding platform was a vast, cavernous chamber of gleaming…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-warren/zhengzhou-east-station-was-one-of-the-largest-high-speed-rail/) [Andrew Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-warren/) ## More by George Will > [The average American expends more time becoming informed about choosing a car than choosing a candidate. But, then, the consequences of the former choice…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-will/the-average-american-expends-more-time-becoming-informed-about/) [George Will](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-will/) > [Pettiness is the tendency of people without large purposes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-will/pettiness-is-the-tendency-of-people-without-large-purposes/) [George Will](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-will/) > [A politician's words reveal less about what he thinks about his subject than what he thinks about his audience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-will/a-politician-s-words-reveal-less-about-what-he-thinks-about-his/) [George Will](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-will/) > [As has been said, standards are always out of date - that is why we call them standards.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-will/as-has-been-said-standards-are-always-out-of-date-that-is-why-we-call/) [George Will](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-will/) > [Hart is still like that little tub of vaguely milklike gunk that comes with airline coffee. 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Sport, they said, is morally serious because mankind's noblest aim is the loving…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-will/greek-philosophers-considered-sport-a-religious-and-civic-in-a-word/) [George Will](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-will/) > [The cultivation - even celebration - of victimhood by intellectuals, tort lawyers, politicians and the media is both cause and effect of today's culture…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-will/the-cultivation-even-celebration-of-victimhood-by-intellectuals-tort/) [George Will](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-will/) > [When I'm in my car, I'm listening to books, audio books, always.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-will/when-i-m-in-my-car-i-m-listening-to-books-audio-books-always/) [George Will](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-will/) > [Just as the common law derives from ancient precedents - judges' decisions - rather than statutes, baseball's codes are the game's distilled mores. Their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-will/just-as-the-common-law-derives-from-ancient-precedents-judges/) [George Will](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-will/) > [“Football combines two of the worst things in American life. It is violence punctuated by committee meetings.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-will/football-combines-two-of-the-worst-things-in-american-life-it-is/) [George Will](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-will/) > [I've lived in Washington now for 44 years, and that's a lot of folly to witness up close. Whatever confidence and optimism I felt…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-will/i-ve-lived-in-washington-now-for-44-years-and-that-s-a-lot-of-folly/) [George Will](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-will/) > [The business of America is not business. Neither is it war. The business of america is justice and securing the blessings of liberty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-will/the-business-of-america-is-not-business-neither-is-it-war-the/) [George Will](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-will/) > [Freedom is not only the absence of external restraints. It is also the absence of irresistible internal compulsions, unmanageable passion, and uncensorable highlights.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-will/freedom-is-not-only-the-absence-of-external-restraints-it-is-also-the/) [George Will](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-will/) [Explore all 279 George Will quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-will/) ## More Collectivism quotes > [Philosopher is a dictator who modifies accepted standards with his thoughts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ilkin-santak/philosopher-is-a-dictator-who-modifies-accepted-standards-with-his/) [Ilkin Santak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilkin-santak/) > [Motherland is our property and we have right to handle our properties as pleased. The jokes about death for the sake of the motherland…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ilkin-santak/motherland-is-our-property-and-we-have-right-to-handle-our-properties/) [Ilkin Santak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilkin-santak/) > [“Socialists and Progressives confuse compassion and compulsion.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-e-samaan/socialists-and-progressives-confuse-compassion-and-compulsion/) [A.E. Samaan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-e-samaan/) > [Your best friends are your principles, if you havent them, dont look for another friend.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ilkin-santak/your-best-friends-are-your-principles-if-you-havent-them-dont-look/) [Ilkin Santak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilkin-santak/) > [A strong saying is not afraid of criticism, because it includes all the answers to criticism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ilkin-santak/a-strong-saying-is-not-afraid-of-criticism-because-it-includes-all/) [Ilkin Santak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilkin-santak/) > [ \[American\] conformism might approximate collectivism, not so much in economic respects, and not too much in political respects, but very much in the pattern… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-tillich/american-conformism-might-approximate-collectivism-not-so-much-in/) [Paul Tillich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-tillich/) > [“He needed the people and the clamour around him. There was no questions and no doubts when he stood on a platform over a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/he-needed-the-people-and-the-clamour-around-him-there-was-no/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [It is true that the virtues which are less esteemed and practiced now--independence, self-reliance, and the willingness to bear risks, the readiness to back…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-august-von-hayek/it-is-true-that-the-virtues-which-are-less-esteemed-and-practiced-now/) [Friedrich August von Hayek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-august-von-hayek/) > [A noble person stands up as though a theater curtain rises.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ilkin-santak/a-noble-person-stands-up-as-though-a-theater-curtain-rises/) [Ilkin Santak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilkin-santak/) > [I don't envisage collectivism. There is no such animal, it is always individualism, sometimes the rest vote and sometimes they do not, and if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gertrude-stein/i-don-t-envisage-collectivism-there-is-no-such-animal-it-is-always/) [Gertrude Stein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gertrude-stein/) > [“They say, 'No private property', and immediately after strive to maintain private property in its daily manifestations. 'You shall be a commune as far…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pyotr-kropotkin/they-say-no-private-property-and-immediately-after-strive-to-maintain/) [Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) > [“the only secure basis for oligarchy is collectivism. Wealth”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/the-only-secure-basis-for-oligarchy-is-collectivism-wealth/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [Subconsciously it is possible to act, consciously it is possible to decide and overconsciously to create.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ilkin-santak/subconsciously-it-is-possible-to-act-consciously-it-is-possible-to/) [Ilkin Santak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilkin-santak/) > [Unfortunately, our leadership decided to abandon the model that had made us rich and embrace the impoverishing ideas of collectivism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/javier-milei/unfortunately-our-leadership-decided-to-abandon-the-model-that-had/) [Javier Milei](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/javier-milei/) > [By consequence I hold that no one ever did, or can do, anything for "society."... Comte invented the term altruism as an antonym for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-j-nock/by-consequence-i-hold-that-no-one-ever-did-or-can-do-anything-for/) [Albert J. Nock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-j-nock/) [Browse all 246 Collectivism quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/collectivism/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Forever seeking Archimedean levers for prying the world in directions they prefer, progressives say they embrace high-speed rail for many reasons—to improve the climate, increase competitiveness, enhance national security, reduce congestion, and rationalize land use. 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