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Wawasan is Indonesian meaning 'insight.' Wawasan posts will be my insights into current events, politics, etc. My goal is not to be on a soap box or spread an agenda, but just to spur thought and hopefully discussion - maybe even discussion in the comments here.

1. I recently drove past a car with this bumper sticker:

2. But Bush's opponents want higher gas prices. Michael Bloomberg, who some speculate will be Obama's running mate, explained the left's view on this:

[Lowering taxes on gas is] dumbest thing I’ve heard in an awful long time from an economic point of view. I don’t understand why you think there’s any merit to it whatsoever. We’re trying to discourage people from driving ...The last thing we need to do is encourage people to drive more"

1. If you vote liberal, you are not allowed to complain about high gas prices. The people you're voting for want the gas prices high.

2. This is a display of the left's view that a major role of the government is to oppress the poor to force obedience to their political agenda.

People on the right say:

• If I can't convince you to willingly choose to do what I think is best, and if the market doesn't convince you, then you don't have to do what I want you to do.
  

People on the left say:

• If I can't convince you to willingly choose to do what I think is best, I'll just tax you until you're too poor to do anything except what I want you to do..

(Obviously these viewpoints are about legal behavior choices.)

3 comments

1. Jen on 5/14/08, 2:05 PM

   That just makes me cringe - we're discouraging people from driving by increasing the price of gas.
   
   I agree with your assessment.

    
2. Anonymous on 5/19/08, 11:46 PM

   In slight defense of Bloomberg's quote, I don't think it's fair to tack the meaning onto it that the taxes are there just to keep prices "high" to discourage driving, or that they want to raise the taxes arbitrarily.
   
   Though I suppose their misguided "windfall profits tax" idea for those darn oil companies actually trying to make a profit will have the same effect, since those taxes will go directly through to the consumer.

    
3. Jon the Canadian on 5/20/08, 8:52 AM

   Hey gregor,
   
   Thanks for the comment. No, I don't think Bloomberg would say that discouraging driving is the only reason to keep taxes high, it's also so the fed can make 3 times as much as the oil companies on every gallon of gas sold.
   
   But making gas unaffordable to discourage/punish driving is one of the major reasons for the gas tax - that's what he said in the quote.