Who Do I Think I Am??

This one's about big brother.

THE PROMPT: "In your opinion should the government control how many natural resources you as an individual are allowed to use? In the name of conservation and to save the planet, should we be prohibited from taking up our greater share? Think limit on gasoline, monitored water usage, etc..." (opinion entry)

Good afternoon everybody...what a prompt we've got going on for today, huh? Time to pull out the big guns for this one...fair warning, however: There's been nothin' but love up in this place since April's challenge started. Here's the point in the month where I probably piss a few people off. No sweat.

Look, I'm just as much a hippie tree-hugger as the next guy (dunno if that's a good or bad thing). And I'm all for the government keepin' their grubby mitts outta the pocket I keep the bank card in. I pay taxes, like most of the rest of us. I expect them to be fair with my money. And I do little things too. I recycle. I try to shut my computer off at night and not leave lights on when I leave the room. But I'm not considering that effect on the environment. Energy will likely always be there (unless the unforseen happens and we're throttled back into the stone ages).

But I'm sorry, no government is going to permit me to drive a vehicle with a 15-gallon gas tank and tell me I can only buy ten gallons at a time. No state legislature is going to say "don't shower twice a day if you work a very labor-intensive job". What government is going to care about how many lights you left on in your house when you went to the movies to see Forest Gump?

Sorry folks, but the government isn't a bunch of dirty hippies. These days, the government is a business. And what's the goal of any business? Profit. And what does that mean? The government may try to push the "conservation" of these services, but shit, as long as those bills keep getting paid on time, they don't care how many lights you leave on, how much water you use, or whether or not you're using gas to heat your home or power your vehicle. They don't care. These giant utility corporations? They're basically overseen by some level of government, whether it's directly or indirectly labled as such. National Fuel. New York State Electric & Gas (NYSEG). Erie County Water Bureau. These are regulated departments of government, and like I said, they're run like a business that exists just like any other business...not for their customers, but to make money.

Think of it like this: The government is a cellular phone provider (Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T, etc.). They sell you a device with a usage plan. Let's say that plan allots you 400 minutes of usage a month, and you pay $60 for it. And you can go over that 400 minutes if you want, but they're going to charge you $0.29/minute for every minute you use beyond your 400. They're not going to give you a courtesy call at 395 minutes, telling you you're close to the threshold of additional charges. They're gonna let you blow right by that milestone and let the charges keep adding up. And they'll keep doing that, as long as you keep paying that $100+ bill every month. And the moment you decide not to pay the bill? No more usage at all for you.

Now, relate that to any utility company. The more you use, the more money they make. Once you've used enough to satisfy their overhead, they start making money off it hand over fist. And it's that simple...when your money stops going into their bank accounts, you no longer have their services. And they want your money, so they're not going to care about how much you use, how efficient your furnace is, how many miles to the gallon your car gets, whether or not you shut the tap off in between rinses when you brush your teeth, or how long you stare at the food in your fridge while trying to make up your mind as to what you want to eat. Secretly, behind all of the "Energy Conservation" and "Go Green!" campaigns, are a bunch of suits crunching numbers, cashing checks, and getting rich regardless of your attempts to "save the future of the world".

And that's my opinion. Maybe I'm jaded by the fact that I don't have any kids, so once my cold, dead body is in the ground, my future has been determined and is somewhere else. But so many people are worried about what the future is going to hold for their kids, and I understand that, but please...if and when there's ever going to be some kind of energy crisis, it will be handled and addressed appropriately, by the right people and at the proper time. Weren't there meat and energy supply issues back in the 1970's? I see that most of those who lived through it made it out ok, albeit with a slightly different worldview and a new appreciation for things...just like those who lived through The Great Depression. It's the ebb and flow of life, really. One generation struggles and teaches its youth to be careful...that generation grows up and prospers, allowing for wasteful consumption and a lackadaisical attitude, and passes it on to their youth, who struggle because there was no conservation, and the cycle starts all over again. It doesn't end. It just gets a new name, a new face, new victims, and the same shoddy answers. And someone still profits from it anyway.

MUSICAL BREAK!!

Now that I'm on a bit of a bend about the government, I have to scratch that itch somehow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqZOYgUolC4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAkHkbBuo_Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F22HZpECcH0

VITAL STATS:

One last point about the government regulating anything: Did you know that in the state of New York you're limited on how much alcohol you're allowed to purchase on a given day? While some of NY's laws are fairly liberal regarding alcohol usage (on a county-by-county basis), you are only allowed to purchase the equivalent of up to approximately 4.5 gallons a day (gotta trust me on that...I spent a nice chunk of the afternoon trying to look that up to no avail, and I only know it because we had to take a training module on it at work). Now, I know you can only drink so much in a given day, but say you're throwing a big party and you want three 30-packs. Can't buy them all at once. That's a no-no. And I get that there's ways around it, but I think it's funny that such a rule exists. Can you imagine the government placing the same regulations on gas? What does someone who travels to make a living do when they exceed their daily allotment of gasoline? And how is it controlled? It's a law, that lawmakers spent all this time on, which isn't very publicized, and if I didn't take that training module, the only way I'd know about it is if I either tried to buy that much for a big party, or tried to cash someone out that was buying a lot of beer (our registers are programmed not to exceed a certain amount of alcohol on one purchase). Maybe it's a start to the "regulation of everything" process, to which I say if the government were smart, they'd legalize marijuana just so they could tax and regulate that as well, and make money off of it. And I don't even smoke weed...but think about my point. "Pot trafficking" related crimes would likely decrease, and the government makes more money off of something else. Then the states make their share, and this is clearly another topic for another time.

And that's it for today. It's been a hit-and-miss kind of day already, and opinion pieces tend to get me a little overworked. Gonna hit a meal and a shower and move far, far away from this prompt before the FBI starts tappin' my internet. Peace, and GOODNIGHT NOW!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8EyAKh-XWQ&ob=av2n