Wait, so you want government investment to focus on electric cars even though it won't have an impact on climate change?
I'd appreciate it if you didn't jump to conclusions about what I said.
I want governments to enforce moving away from ICE vehicles and towards BEV ones as they are demonstrably far cleaner both in terms of climate change and particulates that affect the local environment.
No, BEVs alone can't reverse climate change. Neither can rail. They can both only be one part of the solution, which will obviously be a multi-pronged approach with many changes required in almost all aspects of our lives, not just transportation.
I want that investment in rail
You speak as if I don't. I was very clear that I do want that.
...because rail is most likely to have the largest impact while being doable in a short term for the vast majority of the population.
And this is where we differ. Building out rail will take decades, and even then won't even come close to serving all populations or all usecases. That means for the time being, cars, vans, buses, and lorries will be used for a long time to come. My position is that while these exist, they should be as clean as possible, your position seems to be switching between "let's get rid of them immediately" (which isn't feasible for obvious reasons) and "get rid of environmental regs and let them roll coal", which I don't like the sound of.
I get that your an American
I'm not. Since I'm posting in the Europe community, you'd think it'd be obvious that I'm from Europe, but oh well.
...that car companies have propagandised to oblivion but public transit works
Like I said, but you refuse to listen to, I like public transportation and want more of it. Please stop deliberately strawmanning. You're the one who wants to get rid of buses - an extremely effective form of public transport - and seemingly wants to scrap environmental regulations on cars. I should be asking you if you're some kind of auto-industry shill.
and it works better than electric cars for most people.
Assuming that's true, what of the rest? Fuck them? What of those who need ambulances called out? Let them die? Firefighters shouldn't have access to roads to get to places and put out fires? Lorries and vans shouldn't be able to deliver to places? People who live rurally (~5-35% of the population depending on where in Europe you are) can get fucked?