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A Mexican Response to Arnold Schwarzenegger
I’m an average citizen. Allowing illegal immigrants to legally drive will result in lower car insurance rates and safer roads. I have pondered why I would want to pay higher insurance rates and drive on more dangerous roads by taking the contrary position. Why would I take a position that is going to make my life harder, while at the same time make somebody else’s life harder? An essentially sadomasochistic position. Because I believe in the Governor of the great state of California! The greatest state in the greatest country in the world! Arnold Schwarzenegger! The Commando! The Barbarian! The Terminator! California Uber Alles! (The crowd erupts, “USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!…USA!USA!” I look upward. Unblinking).
As an environmentalist who drives hummers and a longtime resident of the Los Angeles area, I’m sure that you can appreciate the dire need for developing excellent mass transit in Los Angeles. We have the worst air quality and the worst traffic in the country. Obviously, the more people that use mass transit, the more these problems will be alleviated. The logic of capitalism suggests that in order to achieve this, that people be offered a better product than driving. This better product is a fast, reliable, extensive mass transit system of world class standards that will dissuade people from investing thousands of dollars in a vehicle that will pollute the air they breath, or at least cause them to drive less often.
Developing excellent mass transit, not just in L.A., but throughout California, is also vital to the economy. In 1998 gasoline was 99 cents a gallon. Now its $2.39. If the same rate of increase continues, gasoline will soon be $3 and $4 per gallon. People can’t help but complain about the cost of gas, and newspapers pander to these sentiments by printing headlines such as “RIDICULOUS!” “FUMING!” Yet, major indications suggest that the trend upwards will continue. According to the Wall Street Journal, there were 40.6 years of consumption covered by proven oil reserves in 2002. Of course, more oil will be found, but there’s only been one major oil find in the last 30 years. If the cost of gas is what it is today with 40.6 years of consumption left, what will it be at 35, 25, or 15, in the absence of an alternative fuel?
Next, enter rising global demand for oil which will deplete the supply faster than in previous decades. India and China each have populations exceeding 1 billion people and are rapidly expanding their economies. Compound to this the disruptions caused by terrorism and the war in Iraq, which are likely to persist. Saudi Arabia, the home to roughly 25% of the world’s oil reserves, has demonstrated its vulnerability to terrorism numerous times.
Recently, the Southern California Auto Club was encouraging Californians to save two gallons per week in order to keep prices down. Perhaps 2 gallons per week per driver is wishful thinking, but inherent in such a suggestion is the acknowledgment that a person’s choice to drive affects the lives other people, through increased costs for goods and services as a result of higher gas prices caused by high demand and tight supply, by creating more traffic, and by polluting the air. Such behavior should be made part of the solution through increased taxation on gasoline that directly funds mass transit.
According to the California State Energy Commision, California consumes 45 million gallons of gasoline per day. A modest 10 cent increase per gallon would result in 1.6425 billion dollars per year. A 20 cent increase would result in 3.285 billion dollars per year. However, in California, individual counties can apply their own taxes on gasoline. So if such a scheme is not adopted by the state, a densely populated, car dominated metropolis can adopt such a scheme of its own accord. In order to fund mass transit, there are also the options of increasing taxes on the incomes of the wealthiest Californians, and increasing property taxes. According to your friend and advisor, Warren Buffet, it “makes no sense” that he pays less property taxes on a $4 million home in Laguna than on a $500,000 home in Omaha. Taxes on his home in Laguna increased $23 in the year prior to his remarks. We can also wait for the federal government to kick us down several billion dollars, which is highly unlikely to happen under George Bush Jr., and perhaps not even under John Kerry, considering the deficit.
We can simply whine and complain and watch the price of gasoline soar and sink our economy, or we can organize our society to deal with the challenge. We can truly reduce our dependence on petroleum and by the very logic of the Southern California Auto Club, one of the biggest, if not the biggest, advocates of the interests of drivers, affect the supply and demand relationship concerning gasoline prices and keep prices down.
It would appear imperative to act now, but for the fact that such a plan violates the third tenet of the Republican philosophy, which is, “Taxes are bad.” TAXES ARE BAD! TAXES ARE BAD! TAXES ARE BAD! Dear father who art in heaven, please free us of taxation, give us the patience to be able to tolerate traffic, bless us with good health so that the polluted air we breath won’t harm us, stave off the greenhouse effect until we are old and on our way somewhere else, and let our children and grandchildren deal with it then(with your guidance of course), help our investments in the stock market pay off handsomely so that we can comfortably retire. Amen.
Ladies and gentlemen, Arnold Schwarzenegger has passed a budget with no new taxes!(Applause!)
It is also worth mentioning that investment in mass transit will result in increased economic activity. Money used to purchase gasoline creates wealth for oil companies directly, perpetuating the cycle of concentration of wealth which we observe in society. Money that would have been spent on gasoline, but isn’t, has the ability to go to diverse sources. It would be recycled within the local economy many more times.
Movement is freedom. As a citizen, I should be able to move about with the purchase of a pass from a transit agency, in a fast, efficient, reliable manner, like millions of citizens of other societies can. Our government’s policies compel us to invest thousands of dollars in a vehicle that pollutes the air we breath, and in L.A., said vehicle does not even allow us to move about in a fast, efficient, reliable manner, much of the time. So there we are. Stuck in traffic. Paying $3.00 and $4.00 per gallon of gasoline soon enough.
I have recently learned that in 1998, the electorate of Los Angeles overwhelming passed a law which banned the future construction of subways in the city. Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!(This is not entirely accurate. The law actually bans the use of the local sales tax for the purpose of constructing subways, which is still an astounding act of self-castration considering L.A. county is the 17th largest economy on the planet.)
In our society, there dominates a view of the government which is very unproductive and unempowering. In this view the government is seen as an overpowering, all reaching, oppressive entity. Oh! Get the government off my back! Its weight is crushing me! In this view, the individual is inevitably subservient to the government. The government has moral authority over an individual, such as is the case with abortion. The right promulgates this view and plenty of people on the left succumb to its insidious influence. Expressions of hopelessness and cynicism abound. “Who says we have a democracy?” “Our democracy is broken.” “Republicans and democrats are the same.” We are powerless against the almighty government.
The government is the instrument which society uses to organize itself and solve its problems. It is subservient to the people. It is subservient to me. I am bigger than the government. The individual has the supreme moral authority over his or her body, not the government. The government has the moral uprightness of the people who comprise it. We can change it. Alter it. Make small modifications or large modifications. Elections in our country are fair and square, and the true victor, the true will of the electorate as embodied by the winning candidate ascends into power. Of course, the 2000 Presidential election was an exception in which George Bush Jr. got less votes in the state of Florida than Al Gore under any recount scenario, and his campaign disenfranchised thousands of African-Americans.
We can also view it as the victor gets the job. They have power over us because we allow them to have power over us. They ascend because we imagine them ascending. We should imagine ourselves ascending. Particularly we who have been produced by the very soil of California. Let the woodcutter awaken. Let him discover his own genius and realize that he grasps within his hands the lightning bolt of transcendent knowledge.
The most famous mythological symbol of the Mexican consciousness is that of an eagle devouring a serpent.
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