The West Wasn't Built Like This

The legal, political, and moral question that a $450bn industry is hoping you don't ask

Drone delivery might be one of the most genuinely useful technologies of the decade. It could reach places roads never did. It could save lives. It could reshape logistics the way the container ship did. Celebrate it. Just don't pretend that building it doesn't require taking something that was never on the table.

The transcontinental railroad was not bu…