Image: Nashville Transit
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It's cases like this that help paint the Koch brothers as villainous tycoons in the popular conception. Though David and Charles Koch are almost certainly not micro-managing this particular effort out of some all-consuming hatred for mass transit, their ideology is ultimately the animating force behind the grassroots efforts they finance. And there's no doubt that part of their preferred agenda is derailing transit. The AFP has previously campaigned to kill mass transit projects in other states. The Reason Foundation, another group supported by the Koch Brothers, lobbied Florida governor Rick Scott to kill the state's incoming high speed rail project. He did.The Kochs and their advocates are pumping their dislike of mass transit into a public policy arena in a city where they themselves have little or no actual direct involvement. They're not just trying to keep public transit out of the town they live in—now, in fact, they are trying to ban an entire technological concept as widely as possible.This, it bears reminding, is the new normal. Political scientists say our government now resembles not democracy, but 'economic elite domination'. So it shouldn't be too surprising that billionaires can influence the cancelation of a bus line in a city halfway across the country—and override the popular opinion that the BRT should go forward.It's an unwelcome precedent, especially as it pertains to municipal governance. The city itself is one of humankind's greatest inventions, but it needs constant upgrading. It gets dirty, jammed up, and cluttered, and needs careful maintenance to ensure it continues running smoothly, efficiently, pleasantly. This maintenance work is best done by those most familiar with its mechanics, of course—the citizens who spend their time under the city's hood.In a moment where elites living hundreds of miles away can impress their policy preferences on such a complex community, and the flow of influence and capital is unrestricted, we're at risk of total system failure. The corners of the tech world that get outraged when governments and entrenched interests stifle innovation should be protesting loudest of all—here's a clear-cut case of wanton overreach stamping out a truly viable and beneficial technology.[This story has been updated to provide more information on the language of the new law. The headline has been updated to reflect the change.]