Next to national health care, no liberal dream has lingered longer in the nation's public policy than high-speed rail. No surprise that it hit the ground in President Obama's State of the Union speech.

Like health care, the justifications shift with the political winds. High-speed rail's current rationale, needless to say, is jobs. Unlike real jobs created by the private sector, taxpayers get to pay for those in high-speed rail. Let's look at the Orlando-to-Tampa proposal.

Start with the number Mr. Obama attached to an Orlando-Tampa high-speed railway: $1.25 billion. That's a lot but cannot possibly be the bottom line. With rail, it never is. Florida voters know it too.

High-speed rail has a long history in Florida dating to 1982 when the governor established a development committee. Florida has since nixed high-speed rail three times because of costs. In 2004, voters repealed a 2000 ballot initiative requiring the state to build a high-speed rail system because they didn't want to foot the bill.

You would think this nearly 30-year history of rejection would send a signal to the train lobby, but with the Obama revival, it's back. The Florida Department of Transportation estimates the Tampa-Orlando project will cost $3.5 billion. But according to a 2009 GAO report, new high-speed rail projects in France, Spain and Japan average $51 million per mile. You read that right—$51 million per mile. That would put the cost of the Tampa-Orlando line at $4.28 billion. Which means the state will be on the hook for $3 billion.