There is a simple
concept that many seem to have forgotten: Freedom. It isn't your
business or mine what someone wants to drive, whether their
choice of vehicles is "justifiable" or not, whether they live in Minnesota, California
or anywhere else. And raising gasoline prices to pay teachers
more is bullshit, too (my wife is a teacher, by the way.) The
federal, state or local governments are money-grubbing parasites
who care about nothing more than how to separate you from as much
of your money as possible. And they do so, and quite creatively,
too, to bring us to within just a few percentage points of
fomenting revolution.
I can't afford to buy a house within 150 miles of where I work
because of taxes. I earn just over $100,000 a year and pay almost
$40,000 just in federal income taxes alone. Add another $15,000
in state taxes and God knows how much in sales tax, "sin
tax" and various other government fees and I'm broke. Saying
things like "raise gasoline taxes to pay for this or
that" is, frankly, dangerous and opens the door for even
greater governmental abuse.
Show me where in the Constitution where it says I can be amde to
pay for every goddamned idea that someone manages to get pushed
through the legislature.
As for "global warming" it is the very height of
arrogance to assume that we can "destroy the earth" or
melt the polar ice caps. The environmental models used to
"prove" global warming are so flawed as to be
scientifically invalid.
Have we seen certian things happen, such as large pieces of the
Ross Ice Shelf break off? Yes. Do we know why? No. But that
doesn't stop highly political groups like Greepeace (of whom I am
embarassed to say I was a mamber) to immediately propose a whole
myriad of laws, regulations and - of course - taxes and fees to
control people's bahavior. They managed to outlaw CFCs, which
were the cornerstone of all refrigeration systems world-wide even
though the average volcano spews out something like 100,000 times
more CFC in one eruption cycle than mankind has ever produced
(and remember that we only learned how to produce CFCs in the
late 1940s.) And is it a coincidence that the international
patent for R12/Freon (owned by Dupont) lasped in 1994, when CFC
refrigerants were banned? And that the patnet for the replacement
(R134) is also help by Dupont? Hmmmm.
How is it that these pepole can say that we are in imminent
danger of wrecking the planet because certain measurement taken
in certain parts of the Arctic and Antarctic regions show a 1/4
degree warning over the past 75 years? Hell, we couldn't make 2
thermometers that could read within 2 degrees of themselves 50
years ago. And why is it the exact same "scientists"
who were telling me in the early 1970s that we were entering a
new ice age?
These people are also avowed socialists who see America as a
greedy, evil palce. And they fear and resent our freedoms because
it makes THEM powerless. They want to put us all on trains and
mass-transit (proven to be grossly more expensive than
privately-owned cars and roads) and pass laws prohibiting private
ownership of cars. And why does the Kyoto Treaty on GLobal
Warming only punish free-market economies while leaving despotic,
socialist/communist nations free to "pollute"?? The US
is the cleanest industrial nation on earth, yet we are blamed
somehow for all the problems. And sure, we use 6.5 times more
power than the average Mexican (or so I've been told by a number
of "environmentalists") - but that's because more
Americans actually have ELECTRICITY in their homes. And besides,
We FEED the whole world. And we invent 90% of all new
technologies; communication, computers, medical, industrial, etc,
etc, etc. I think we DESERVE to use more power than the average
Mexican, don't you?
Like I said, scary.
One more thing: While it is true that a larger, heavier car will
"put a hurt" on a smaller car, no laws can change the
laws of nature. As such, the only "remedy" is to
curtail freedom by. I don't think this is a step many would
prefer (although I know of a few who would.)
The true solution is to allow the market to decide what to
build/drive. In the meantime, allowing governments to implement
certain standards, whether for pollution control or
crash-worthiness, is reasonable. As for "global
warming/climate change", I also think that quite a bit of
time and a serious, non-political study needs to be conducted,
which could take 10, 20, 30 years. We really do have time. We can no more destroy the
earth than we can alter the course of the Moon. What we can do is make life for US
increasingly difficult - but we're actually getting cleaner every
year.
You see, the dirty little secret is that EVERYONE is an
environmentalist. Nobody wants dirty air or water. Nobody.
And, yeah, a forum owuld be fun.
(By the way, I hold a minor in environmental biology from the
University of Michigan. My major was industrial/organizational
psychology.)
i have to keep
this one short cause the kids are coming in twenty minutes...
there are a lot of points in your letter i can't really argue
with, you have the right to your opinions. a few things come to
mind:
America is a country of laws - that's why bush and gore went to
court instead of some general grabbing the reins. bills are
passed into law every day - laws govern much of your daily life,
what you eat and drink, how fast you drive, which side of the
street, when to stop, when to go, how many hours the boss can
keep you working, and on and on. there are thousands of
regulations that apply just to cars... as for politicians, some
of them suck but lots of them are good, or at least try to be.
they monitor the polls (us) cause in America, we can vote them
out if they screw up.
as for taxing gas, hell i don't know where to put the money or
even if it's a solution. 100,000 is good money - being taxed
around 50% sucks. i make a pretty good living too... what i did
was open my own business to help as a shelter from taxes by
having business expenses and the ability to re-invest my income
overall bringing my taxes way down - when my wife and i found a
home, we liquidated some assets to make the down payment. now the
house is a tax shelter... owning and gassing up an expedition per
month probably scarfs up 30% of an average mortgage payment in
this area.
as for global warming - who knows? i read an article that global
warming could lead to melting that would make our oceans colder
bringing on a mini ice-age. so maybe its global cooling we should
consider... either way, any extremes would suck, cold or hot.
perhaps it's arrogant to think humans have any effect on the
planet - to me it feels humbling. you're right, we're all
environmentalists deep down. i think human activity does have an
effect - simply put, we kick up a lot of pollution and use lots
of stuff. the supply isn't unlimited so recycling will soon
replace gathering raw stuff. we're chopping down big chunks of
the rain forests and wiping out lots of animals. tens of
thousands of species are extinct because of us. so yes, i do
think humans effect the planet. i also think humans could very
well save the planet from the next asteroid so don't get me
wrong, i'm not down on human beings - we belong here.
and i'm not down on America either, not at all. imagine a german
or japanese controlled world - it could have happened. i'm sure
that under all the whining, most folks in the world are thankful
America emerged as the world's superpower. perhaps one day the
entire world will embrace democracy. America sets a fine example.
checks and balances, agreeing to disagree, debate, protests, free
press, all of it makes America shine. so i think there's a place
for industrialists, enviros, guys like rush limbaugh, groups like
greenpeace, Eminem, run DMC, democrats republicans, all races,
and the mighty gaspig.com!
the Pig
www.gaspig.com