About a year ago, when gas prices first soared to nearly $2 a gallon, I received a forwarded e-mail making light of the situation. The joke was a picture of a gas station sign listing the gas prices as “Unleaded: $1.79, Premium: Arm, Super: Leg.”
Funny right? At the time, sure it was. Now, we’ve come to a point when many don’t think the price of gas will ever again be less than $2 a gallon.
I suppose it could be worse. We could live in Europe ... or Michigan.
Rising gas prices have prompted me to start walking to the places I need to go — as often as possible, actually — but having seen them remain steadily around a staggering $2.50 per gallon, even I have begun to complain. Why doesn’t someone do something?
Of course, I do have one alternative: Since gas has now become more expensive than cigarettes, I’ve decided to give up driving and start smoking. That would save me money, if only it were that easy.
But my question of “why doesn’t someone do something?” got me thinking. Who exactly is that someone?
My first thought is, it’s the government. But even though it might be en vogue to point the finger at the president and his administration or at America’s foreign policy, the blame game truly is a step in the wrong direction.
Where the blame gets placed is often where people expect action to come from. So, why doesn’t the government intervene on behalf of the people?
Those were the thoughts I had as I drove around town last week looking for the cheapest place to fill up.
Robert Heinlein, one of my favorite authors, summarized the problem I have with government action. Heinlein reminds us that government — political authority, if you will — is force. Government is power, not suggestion. Such power can be bent in any direction.
Having this in mind, I revisited the expectation that government act on my behalf. In essence, asking the government to act on our behalf is a concession, an admission of powerlessness which might or might not be true. In other words, it is surrender.
Such power surrendered cannot be reclaimed. Are We The People truly powerless? I don’t think so, especially at the pump.
The question becomes one of responsibility. Where does it lie? If gas prices are truly outrageous, whose responsibility is it to do something about it? Being generally hesitant about handing powers to the government, especially in light of Heinlein’s depiction, my position shouldn’t be too hard to determine.
As I filled my tank at the only station with gas for less than $2.50 a gallon, I realized there was no gun to my head. No one was forcing me to do anything. So why should the government do something for me, which I could do, and perhaps need to do, for myself?
I guess for now I’ll just have to continue to make the most of walking. Will gas prices ever sink back to the glory days of 75 cents per gallon? I don’t know, though I doubt it.
Will they at least be something more reasonable than they are now? I don’t know that, either.
I have one last thought, though. This is something I learned by walking places. Paying for gas is, to an extent, paying for convenience, being able to go where you want, when you want.
How much is this convenience worth to people? Is it worth $2.50 a gallon? Or $20 a gallon? I suppose we’ll find out sooner or later.
Write to Andrew at
swordbeach2@yahoo.com
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