Keller @ Large: The Price Of Living In Paradise

BOSTON (CBS) - That was one nasty ride home Tuesday night, and didn't it seem like, to quote the great American philosopher Yogi Berra, "déjà vu all over again?"

You will recall that almost exactly six years ago, on December 13, 2007, the same thing happened, a quick-hitting snowstorm landed in the middle of a weekday and turned afternoon drive-time into a nightmare.

Listen to Jon's commentary:

That was the first big snowstorm of Gov. Deval Patrick's first term, and you'll remember that he took a lot of heat for allegedly failing to send state workers home early enough and generally sound the alarm loudly enough.

That might not have been fair criticism, but the heat was hot enough so that one year later, when the same thing happened, the governor was all over the news warning everyone to stay off the roads, a successful tactic he took to another level last year when he flat-out ordered a ban on all non-essential traffic at the height of one of our big blizzards.

This time the governor wasn't even in the country. So in the absence of a lieutenant governor, it fell to Secretary of State Bill Galvin to handle it.

Yes, we still had nightmare traffic jams, just as we did back in '07 and '08. But that might be a clue that while it may feel good to do so, we really can't blame our elected officials for what happens around here when a storm hits at a bad time, any more than we can finger them for the traffic jams at the Cape Cod Canal bridges on summer weekends.

There are just too many of us trying to go places in too many cars to avoid occasional gridlock.

If you want to talk about the billions squandered on the Big Dig that might have paid for better public transit, go ahead, it's one of my favorite topics. But let's face it, we have met the enemy here, and it's us.

Just another price we pay for living here in paradise, USA.

You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.

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