We’re not going to take it anymore

Like a scene from the movie “Groundhog Day,” Americans have rolled out of bed every morning this summer to find gas prices higher than they were the day before. Relief for the wallets of the common man is nowhere in sight, and while the brain-administration of President George W. Bush acts oblivious to any sign of domestic distress, the future needs to be addressed as a full blown crisis has arrived.

Average Americans are in financial trouble and are being hurt by high gas prices, and no one, not even so-called “family” lobbyist groups, seem to want to do anything about it because they are more worried about outlawing abortion and gay marriage while the common man pays out half his paycheck at the pump.

Americans are dependent on gasoline to do anything as almost every type of transportation depends on gas fuel, so the solution to this complex problem involves varying degrees of societal adjustments.

Americans must convert the automobile fleet from one of gas-powered vehicles to those that use electricity or are a hybrid of both. But that future won’t happen while Bush is in office because his family fortune – and the family fortune of Vice President Dick Cheney – is found in the oil and gasoline industry, and if you eliminate the need of vast amounts of gas, then their vast wealth would be as valuable as a stack of currency from the defunct Confederate States of America.

Bush likes to think he is doing a good job, and he endlessly says other countries continue to pay more for gasoline, such as in London where it is almost $6 a gallon.

This fact is undisputedly true. However, what President Bush fails to mention is that Europe has had the foresight to see a future without gasoline and has prepared for more economic and environmentally friendly ways to move people.

While gasoline costs more in Europe, it doesn’t cause the crisis it does here because they have better transportation networks within their cities and towns. Even small towns in Europe have spent the money to install subways, trolleys, and the intricate web of tracks to match. The result is that in these cities, one can get on a train and go virtually anywhere they want on a given day without starting their car.

Another positive side effect of this is that development is limited to areas near the stations, so the sprawl that has consumed America doesn’t happen there.

Fans of Bush also like to say that it costs too much for the big automobile manufacturers to make mass numbers of electric cars and that the price is so high that most people cannot afford them. Right now that is true, but that could be fixed too if the President would have a little more foresight.

In the Bush era, big business continually gets tax breaks and bankruptcy protections not afforded the common man. It is time for them to give something back, which is to take a temporary loss of profit in order to mass-produce and reasonably price environmentally friendly electric cars.

President Bush favors giving tax breaks to big business for nothing, when in reality if they want a tax break there should be a trade off of a contribution to society, which is to contribute to the mass production of the electric car.

This favor to big business is evident everywhere. As the gas prices and cost of living have skyrocketed the last two years, Bush has said nothing of adjusting the federal minimum wage. People who get paid pennies to begin with are having a hard time getting to and from work.

President Bush should take some action during this congressional recess – he had time to appoint scumbag John Bolton to the United Nations – and sign an emergency relief act raising the federal minimum wage.

Since the Bush Administration has failed in every aspect of controlling the oil price, Americans with incomes under $50,000 should be able to deduct up to $1,000 on their 2005 taxes for gasoline expenses.

Lastly, American companies need to start shipping products and goods on the rail lines. Bush doesn’t like the rail industry (he has tried to kill Amtrak multiple times) and compared to federal aid that the trucking industry receives, rail gets nothing.

The rail networks between cities are complete. Unlike tractor-trailers, they don’t clog the highways for hours at a time, and they are much more fuel-efficient. But to eliminate a substantial portion of the trucking industry would be to also eliminate the need for substantial sums of insurance, which is one of the big businesses that control President Bush.

Many are sick of hearing the president promise that relief for the gas price is coming. Well, Christmas is coming too.

Christmas came last November – when religious zealots in Ohio re-elected President Bush, the average American got stuck with a lump of coal.

Michael Dickinson may be reached at mdickinson2112@aol.com