A Plea for Higher Gasoline Taxes

A Plea for Higher Gasoline Taxes

by Craig Hamilton on Sunday, November 21, 2010 at 7:57pm

A Plea for Higher Gasoline Taxes

For a while, I had been exploring the idea of anarcho-primitivism. I was over the age of 30, and nobody had invented something that I couldn’t do without. However, now I have found something that I need. It is something that I desire. And, it involves a great deal of technology. It is the CPAP machine. Additionally, the internet has facilitated my studies, and I feel that it is a necessary invention because of its power to allow individuals access to information. I have also found my medications to be a necessity. In fact, I am finding a lot of things that technology can provide as necessity.

However, I live alongside a road that has no sidewalk. Cars zoom by. I’d love for it to be safer for my son to walk. I’d love for it to be safe for people to walk all the way from Sandwich to Hyannis along route 6A. However, America’s priorities have been in driving rather than walking. Medically, 1 in every 5 dollars is goes to healthcare, way too much money, and I suggest that maybe cars aren’t as important as walking. I suggest that our priorities are in reverse when we make it easier for someone to drive than walk.

The data shows that the oil supply in the Middle East is dwindling. Consumption is greater than that which can be produced. China is on the rise. If we try to keep them down, then they will eventually be awarded the damages. Eventually, justice will happen on earth. As economies outside the USA grow, so has their oil consumption. And, why is it that we use gasoline operated cars anyway? Is it because we want to be dependent of Saudi Arabia, or the Middle East? I suggest that is borderline blasphemy and that only a small amount of people want the USA to be dependent on the Middle East.

What we need is not more gasoline. What we need is something to spur innovation, so that when the gas runs out, we are prepared. Already, gasoline is grossly underpriced in America. In the coming years, a lot of bovine feces are going to hit the fan. Americans cannot afford to be lazy. We cannot afford not to leave some behind in this world. We cannot fail to outreach with charity so that those less fortunate are offered a fighting chance. We need brains and innovation to pull us out of our mess. We need higher gasoline taxes to drive us away from using more gasoline before it is too late. The world is undergoing a process of globalization. The answer is not to close our doors to competition, except in the areas that we need to be able to obtain our necessities from local sources.

What we need is pressure to move away from gasoline as an energy source and to move on to renewable energies. Innovation can do this. I recommend reading Al Gore’s book “Our Choice” that demonstrates that renewable energy is not only the best way, but in the future it will be the only way. America is going to need to compete against Russia’s, China’s and India’s engineers. In fact, they will compete with us for jobs even in the service sector of the economy, maybe working telephones and learning to imitate American accents. Too often schools only compare the local students with the other local students. If a high school in an area outperforms the rest, then often it falsely considers itself successful. We need to pace ourselves. While we can’t exercise our minds everyday and be healthy, what we need is to be the best we can be at everything that we do. It is not money that makes a nation great. It is hard work. Hard workers often aren’t rewarded with pay. More pay comes to those that can be prodded to work harder, but if that occurs, then the value of the dollar goes down. What I speak of often comes without financial reward. It is for us to imbibe intrinsic motivation.

Note: This essay was inspired by Thomas L. Friedman’s book, “The World Is Flat.”

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