I think that this is actually a pretty difficult and complicated question. If you look at it from a day-to-day situation, I think that transportation runs us. At any given moment, unless of course you are beyond rich and have anything and everything at your disposal, you are limited by how you can move about the world. For example, if you are in a city, with no personal car, you are limited to public transportation or active transportation to get your from point a to point b.
BUT, if you look at it from a global perspective and over more than just a one or two day time scale, I feel that we controll transportation. The world is always changing and so are the means that we use to get from one place to another. The Eisenhower administration is a great example of this. Before this time, most long distance transportation was via train due to a lack of good roadways. But Eisenhower built countless miles of roads and highways and completely changed America to be dependant of personal automobile transportation. While on a day-to-day plan we are forced by this decision to use cars, we as a county, and as a world, have decided to let cars become our main source of transportation.
BUT, if you look at it from a global perspective and over more than just a one or two day time scale, I feel that we controll transportation. The world is always changing and so are the means that we use to get from one place to another. The Eisenhower administration is a great example of this. Before this time, most long distance transportation was via train due to a lack of good roadways. But Eisenhower built countless miles of roads and highways and completely changed America to be dependant of personal automobile transportation. While on a day-to-day plan we are forced by this decision to use cars, we as a county, and as a world, have decided to let cars become our main source of transportation.
I agree that Ike pretty much changed America's transportation system. I always wonder what would've happened if he didn't initiate the federal aid highway act - would our train systems have developed into something better than Japan's or Germany's? I kind of wish they had and that the highway didn't exist until trains were more sustainable and high speed or until cars were more eco friendly.
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