Raise the Hammer

A tax is what we call it when you have to pay for something no matter how much or little you use it.

What if you have no choice but to use it? May as well be a tax. So I use that term... freely and loosely :)

But if we point to the results of past decisions as an excuse not to make different decisions today.

What I'm saying is that yes, there is an illusion we all ended up living the way we do through free will. But North American policies in the past 65 years have also lured us into our current mode of survival. The GI Bill in the US drove people into the suburbs, the highway construction and zoning policies were in place to ensure the type of housing choices people made were choices that benefitted the auto industry. People were going to end up living in the suburbs, there really was no choice. At the same time the media machine armed with new advances in propaganda and psychology kicked in and started selling a lifestyle that again benefitted the auto industry and the post-war capabilities of North American industry. You cannot discount the manipulative power of the exponential increases in media in those 65 years.

(You'll note I say North American a lot. As a dual citizen I have spent a fair amount of time on both sides of the border and I have seen how as Canadians we are so linked to the US and sadly we often follow them socially and politically. I even occasionally hear Canadians citing US rights and laws as our own. Their media is über-powerful.)

Yes people bought houses in the suburbs, yes big highways were built and yes people are still making bad decisions when it comes to vehicle and housing choices. But it has not had as much to do with the free will of the people as some would have you believe.

People were duped, set up into this lifestyle of suburban living, miles of open road and a V8 engine. Our governments, our corporations, our advertisers, think tanks, politicians and pundits, they all encouraged it and they bloody well knew why. It meant big bucks for them.

So now it sort of isn't really working out the way they'd all hoped and measures must be taken… NO DOUBT!

But when those measures end up once again on the backs of the people, I gotta at least put up a bit of a MB pissing match over it ; )

Who is arguing this way?

I've seen the debate reduced to this rhetoric on many occasions on many forums. Not accusing you of this Ryan.