Thanks for the anecdote that was interesting. I think the Erie gauge war demonstrates that people feel entitled to any advantage of circumstances that they have profited from in the past as if such were their property even when the actual matter are issue is in fact others property.
I've seen this happen with planned bypasses of small towns, either through individuals fighting CPOs for their land, or people in the town opposing planning permission notices. (there's a few I can think of where the council's current plan involves waiting for certain people to die, since that's less effort overall)
Usually such bypasses are great for these towns, as it removes most of the articulated road shipping that needs to pass through there, and generally makes it a nicer place to be.
This is precisely what large companies in the US do, they gain an advantage, then when the advantage is threatened, they use every tool at their disposal, including political lobbying, to keep their advantage.
This is done under the guise of preserving shareholder value.
