Date:         Fri, 4 Apr 1997 16:02:41 -0800
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         bayer@sybase.com (David Bayer)
Subject:      Re: Driving: Right vs. Priveledge

>| I know it's hard to beleive in these times, but the government is not some
>| etherial power from nowhere out to control our lives. The government is
>| the people ... at least the people that bothered to get out and vote. In
>| this vein the government REPRESENTS those people who did VOTE. 

	I voted, but there was no one to vote for who said anything about
reducing emissions in a more productive way. I called the Bureau of Air some-
thing or other before my 72 siezed trying to find what engines I could put
in and got told, the original type with original smog parts.

>|  The
>| government doesn't limit our right to *travel* from place to
>| place, but they do *regulate* the mechanism and manner by which we travel.

	And from what I have seen, too many people are too attached to their
cars to make public transit a viable option. No money coming in means public
transport is a poor use of money. All the while, more "communities" are built
on old ranches with the closest public transport and grocery stores being
miles away (doesn't this prepetuate people's reliance on their cars?). So my
problem is not with the government per say, but that people seem dumb enough
to buy into it all. And what more can I do except live the way I want to
live, vote the way I want to vote, and hope my example and dealings rub off
well enough that people see these things...

>|  It's obvious
>| from the number of vehicles spewing out bad emissions or people driving
>| recklessly that they are and will not do what is right and proper. These 
>| same morons are likely the same people who do not vote and/or are not
>| active in the political arena.

	Or they are the people who know what they have to do to get by under
the current system and don't what to bother changing. I live in the Bay Area
and drive with some of worst drivers I have expereinced in this country.
People who cut you in front of you in on the highways when your going 75,
people who don't seem to realize that a fully loaded van (and by fully loaded,
I mean I am carrying about 3/4 - 1 ton of sound gear) will not stop on a dime.
But smog laws that require people to shell out money to fix their cars put
those in lower economic classes in a bind - do I eat, or spend the money to
fix my car so I can get to the store so I can eat?
	And the people who make the decisions on what can be spewed of what
kind of pipe seem to be out of the reach of the voter. I care less about
restrictions on my tailpipe as people putting restrictions on my tailpipe so
businesses can be given leniency on the amount of pollution they can spew
out their smoke stacks because that brings more revenue in to the county then
me driving to work or to the Sierras to go camping... And this I think is
trading something I do have a right to do for the interest of revenue... I
may have to make sacrifices so the "community" can continue on, but when
those sacrifices are put towards watering the lawn because someone thinks it
is important to grow European grasses in a desert instead of putting the
money towards things like education or public transit systems - something's
out of whack here...

>| it's not as if the drivers (a.k.a, morons) don't take advantage of this
>| ability; vehicles with $2000 stereo systems, but brakes that don't work;
>| vehicles with car phones and distracted drivers; and vehicles with all the
>| luxuries of home dulling the drivers senses ... unfortunately the driver
>| isn't at home proped up in his/her Lay-Z-Boy, but in a vehicle cruising
>| along at 90 mph.

	And these are the people who are "admired". The wealthy business
person driving their Jag, putting their commute time to good use by talking
on the phone. So obviously these are the same people who get pulled over right?
Nope because they are the same people who slam on the brakes and go less than
the speed limit when they see a cop around... So it is the people who do vote,
but do not seem to vote for what I want... But that's democracy, so be it...

dave