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Truckers Hit the Brakes
Until the beginning of this month, Americans seemed to have nothing to say about their ongoing economic ruin except, "Hit me! Please, hit me again!" You can take my house, but let me mow the lawn for you one more time before you repossess. Take my job and I'll just slink off somewhere out of sight. Oh, and take my health insurance too; I can always fall back on Advil.
Then, on April 1, in a wave of defiance, truck drivers began taking the strongest form of action they can take: inaction. Faced with $4-per-gallon diesel fuel, they slowed down, shut down and started honking. On the New Jersey Turnpike, a convoy of trucks stretching "as far as the eye can see," according to a turnpike spokesman, drove at a glacial 20 miles per hour.
Outside of Chicago, they slowed and drove three abreast, blocking traffic and taking arrests. They jammed into Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; they slowed down the Port of Tampa, where fifty rigs sat idle in protest. Near Buffalo, one driver told the press he was taking the week off "to pray for the economy."
The truckers who organized the protests--by CB radio and Internet--have a specific goal: reducing the price of diesel fuel. They are owner-operators, meaning they are also businesspeople, and they can't break even with current fuel costs. They want the government to release its fuel reserves. They want an investigation into oil company profits and government subsidies of the oil companies. Of the drivers I talked to, all were acutely aware that the government had found, in the course of a weekend, $30 billion to bail out Bear Stearns, while their own businesses are in a tailspin.
But the truckers' protests have ramifications far beyond the owner-operators' plight--first, because trucking is hardly a marginal business. You may imagine, here in the blogosphere, that everything important travels at the speed of pixels bouncing off of satellites, but 70 percent of the nation's goods--from Cheerios to Chapstick--travel by truck. We were able to survive a writers' strike, but a trucking strike would affect a lot more than your viewing options. As Donald Hayden, a Maine trucker put it to me: "If all the truckers decide to shut this country down, there's going to be nothing they can do about it."
More importantly, the activist truckers understand their protest to be part of a larger effort to "take back America," as one put it to me. "We continue to maintain this is not just about us," JB--which is his CB handle and stands for the "Jake Brake" on large rigs-- told me from a rest stop in Virginia on his way to Florida. "It's about everybody--the homeowners, the construction workers, the elderly people who can't afford their heating bills... This is not the action of the truck drivers, but of the people." Hayden mentions his parents, ages and 81 and 76, who've fought the Maine winter on a fixed income. Missouri-based driver Dan Little sees stores shutting down in his little town of Carrollton. "We're Americans," he tells me, "We built this country, and I'll be damned if I'm going to lie down and take this."
At least one of the truckers' tactics may be translatable to the foreclosure crisis. On March 29, Hayden surrendered three rigs to be repossessed by Daimler-Chrysler--only he did it publicly, with flair, right in front of the statehouse in Augusta. "Repossession is something people don't usually see," he says, and he wanted the state legislature to take notice. As he took the keys, the representative of Daimler-Chrysler said, according to Hayden, "I don't see why you couldn't make the payments." To which Hayden responded, "See, I have to pay for fuel and food, and I've eaten too many meals in my life to give that up."
Suppose homeowners were to start making their foreclosures into public events--inviting the neighbors and the press, at least getting someone to camcord the children sitting disconsolately on the steps and the furniture spread out on the lawn. Maybe, for a nice dramatic touch, have the neighbors shower the bankers, when they arrive, with dollar bills and loose change, since those bankers never can seem to get enough.
But the larger message of the truckers' protest is about pride or, more humbly put, self-respect, which these men channel from their roots. Dan Little tells me, "My granddad said, and he was the smartest man I ever knew, 'If you don't stand up for yourself, ain't nobody gonna stand up for you.'" Go to TheAmericanDriver.com, run by JB and his brother in Texas, where you're greeted by a giant American flag, and you'll find--among the driving tips, weather info, and drivers' favorite photos--the entire Constitution and Declaration of Independence. "The last time we faced something as impacting on us," JB tells me, "There was a revolution."
The actions of the first week in April were just the beginning. There's talk of a protest in Indiana on April 18, another in New York City, and a giant convergence of trucks on DC on April 28. Who knows what it will all add up to? Already, according to JB, some of the big trucking companies are threatening to fire any of their employees who join the owner-operators' protests.
But at least we have one shining example of defiance of the face of economic assault. There comes a point, sooner or later, when you stop scrambling around on all fours and, like JB and his fellow drivers all over the country, you finally stand up.
If you would like to help support the truckers in any way, go to Truckers and Citizens United.com.
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143 Comments so far
Show AllGosh, why didn't this come up in the MSM?
Oh, right, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.
I hope this was just the beginning. I hope ...
If the truckers manage to slow down the speed at which corporations rob us, then I see that as a huge positive!
Way to go............past time! THEY, GET IT!
Bad timing tho, I am about to drive from Downeast Maine to Fla. in my '83 dsl rabbit, because my Mother ia having surgery! I guess I'd better find a bumper sticker that shows solidarity.
(Would I set foot on a plane? NO WAY!
Besides who knows Nancy Oden danced with my son at a contra dance 3 years ago and I TALKED to her, I may be on the no fly list!
We should all join in solidarity by not buying anything but essentials and calling in sick to work!
If the independant truckers can get it together to call a one week long nationwide strike by all independants, I will make a mortgage payment for one of them. I will gladly put my money where my mouth is.
RichM - "But in a very real sense, every single citizen who pays taxes is also a victim....The scam was designed to fleece ALL of us. It transfers the financial risk & burden to the entire taxpaying public..." -
OoooOOOOooo, it's even better than that, RichM. To pay for their indulgences, the govt's must allow the ballooning of the money supply. This causes price increases by decreasing the purchasing power of the currencies. The amount of money people need to earn to stay above the poverty line then increases - at a quicker rate than the rate of pay of all but the most fickle and nimble freelancers and major CEO's. So everyone gets to work harder, for a lower standard of living, even (and especially) if they earn so little that they don't pay taxes.
That makes sense Rich M, and rather than put the real criminals in jail (they should be serving time), they take their reward and run. But what the truckers are doing could easily have a snowball effect, because they are the heart of what this economy is presently mostly about: outsourcing and having goods transported from other places.
Taken to an extreme, this leaves cheap Chinese crap at the docks (where it belongs?). On the other hand, this could bring about food shortages as well and, if and when this happens, who will the people blame? Will they attack the truckers, or the real culprit of corporate greed itself? Stay tuned, things will no doubt get interesting very soon.
I don't want to get into something here that sounds like I think the "independent" truckers are responsible for and deserve their own financial problems. They aren't and they don't. The freight industry should have remained regulated all along as to pricing of various classes of freight, so that the owner-operator was never required by his next truck payment to bid for loads against the next guy--one similarly situated--to a point where they canibalize each other for the cash flow to stave off losing the truck for one more month (losing money all the way by any real accounting of all expenses including depreciation and deferred maintenance.)
BUT, and it's a significantly large BUT, I'll bet you that more than half of these guys have been going down the roads for years feeding at the "intellectual" trough of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck (not to mention country singer, Toby Keith) on their radios. It's hard to know or even remember anything sensible after you do that for a while. They'll have you flying a flag while you also invite corporations to eat your own lunch (and the lunches of your wife and kids too). That very thing has now happened to independent truckers and they loved their military-kick-butt Republicans all the way to their own irrelevance and destruction. The same phenomenon, of course, is not limited to truckers. It's been a "man" thing in a lot of blue-collar cultures, and we need to turn it around.
This is the most significent story that is presently playing, though not on Corp Media, as one blogger pointed out. As the story states, most of the goods we see are trucked from one point to the other. We don't buy directly at the port of entry, whether by ship, plane or train, so we are dependent on trucks and the people who drive them. Watch the movie, Network, again, and you will get an idea of what is going on. I'd like to see the Teamsters get hold of this one, and force the "candiedates" to take a stand and address this issue. EVERYONE is affected. While Daniel David has a point as to the partisans who drive truck, it is time to reconsider what changes peoples' minds: it is when they are personally affected by circumstances. Let us know that this is the defining moment, and the Limbaughs and the others are about to lose they influence simply through the real issues of human beings.
As a side note, if you have a chance, read or listen to Oprah and Eckhart Tolle on A New Earth; Awakening to Your Life's Purpose. This is a global phenomena which has already attracted millions of people, of all political, social and religious/spiritual persuasions.
I am committed to Oneness through Justice and Transformation.
peace,
st john
Daniel David, you are terribly prejudiced.
I know a number of independent truckers, and I am offended on their behalf by your comments. They listen to classic rock and modern jazz and the CBC and NPR and wouldn't stand the Limbaugh formula for a second. I drove a truck for 3 years long ago - what the heck does that have to do with my political leanings, or me "asking for" what I get? I worked as a mechanic, too - was I "asking for it"?
Hey, I happen to like Bourbon - does that make me worthy of being tarred with one of your blinkered self-righteous brushes?
John, it has been said that once the 'darkness' becomes extreme enough, the shock waves resulting from it will either lead to awakening or plunge those, who are unable or unwilling to hear, deeper into the abyss of denial. The only real choice anyone has is a conscious one. And presently this world is ruled and ruined by unconsciousness. People often forget that all we have is NOW, and that all opportunities for transformation lie within the present moment, not a future time where some reform or other will bring utopia to mankind.
Amen, Daniel David.
James Hoffa, PLEASE -- come home...all is forgiven!
Big Money,
I'm glad you knew and know some truckers, mechanics, and other real workers who do not believe the corporate Republican spin on things. To answer your question, middle class people do not "deserve" anything bad because of what work they do. They may, however, be culpable for some bad results based on how they VOTE. Limbaugh (and others) have very big audiences composed of mostly workers who can listen to them during the middle of the day while they are working. The audiences are more male than not, including truckers. Limbaugh and others have helped convince many listeners to vote stupidly against their own economic interests. Having enough sense to realize the bad effects of this talk-em-all-day-into-being-kick-butt-Republicans radio problem is not "prejudice". It's just an observation that happens to be true. And truckers everywhere as well as many others are now paying a big price for having supported Reagan and the Bushes (the deregulators).
Daniel David:" know a number of independent truckers, and I am offended on their behalf by your comments. They listen to classic rock and modern jazz and the CBC and NPR and wouldn't stand the Limbaugh formula for a second."
Daniel, thanks for making your point. Interesting thing, this same article appears on Alternet also, and the same comments were made about truckers listening to Limbaugh, etc.
Frankly, I think we owe these guys a round of applause for initiating their actions in protest of the gouge we are getting from big oil while the frigging idjit Bu$h Administration gives them (big oil) $15 billion in tax breaks! The actions taken by these truckers will make a whole lot more of a statement than writing a letter to the editor or posting on the internet.
Truckers...thanks for speaking out for all of us!!!
Sounds like the rebellion is starting. Great comments, Big_Money, RichM and st john. Maybe what's happening will contribute to the awakening of consciousness.
I was just thinking this morning that no matter how much the elite take from us, we just run faster for less, and that at some point, it won't work anymore. Maybe people will wake up and refuse to continue to be fleeced.
kathyodat
Oooops....sorry Big Money and Daniel David! Got the statements and those who made them mixed up!
Independent truckers make up about 9% of the truckers on the road. The corporate trucking companies can more easily pass on the higher fuel costs and I've yet to see them slow down. Score one more for the corporations.
Speaking of trucking, there's something I don't understand. When I travel on the interstates there are miles and miles of trucks lined up, each running on separate diesel engines, while just a half mile from the interstate are perfectly good rail lines, essentially dormant. You can see this in every part of the country. More oil and gas lobby victories?
The only label that should be put on these truckers is PATRIOTIC. They are protesting for a better America, and they are angry at the whole system, not just the cost of their fuel. They see and understand that their government is more interested in saving a Wall Street corporation than a blue collar worker.
Hoa binh
good point, rebelnow. Moving stuff by truck is grossly, obscenely inefficient and entrenched in the North American Model. Indeed, more lobby victories that are ripe to be undone.
Daniel, no. Soccer moms buy into it. Farmers buy into it. Retail clerks buy into it. Receptionists, teachers, ambulance drivers, ministers, janitors, men, women, whites, yellows, reds, browns, blacks, geezers, yuppies, rednecks, all buy into it. Everyone has access to a radio and a head full of opinions. Tarring a group with a brush like that is not part of the solution, it's part of the problem. Truckers are not "them", they're "us". As for Rush - well, yes, he's "them".
I am really surprised that this trucking industry friendly article is appearing on Common Dreams. Since peak oil supply is behind us it is natural that oil prices are going up. I recently read a similar article where truckers were demanding than ANWR be opened up for oil exploration. How Nice! How about truckers for electric vehicles or truckers for increased fuel efficiency. Truckers for cheap oil and dead caribou is not sympathetic. Making a point by clogging up the highways is not sympathetic.
If the true cost of oil (a destroyed planet, for one) was reflected in the price there would be more railroad jobs, and less trucking jobs.
I'm happy to see truckers taking the lead here. One thing I'd also like to see is more of the grassroots organizing that gave their strike its numbers. We all need to start taking direct action against all of the corporate bullshit that is fleecing us as citizens and taxpayers and the government bullshit that has been handing the reigns of power to the rich for the last several hundred years.
Questions worth asking might include:
Will bankers repossess our homes and businesses in the face of a neighborhood set against them? (complete with a locksmith to let the family back in and a block party to reinstall their furniture)
Can we start producing more of the things that we need (like food, clothing, etc.) where we live so they don't have to be shipped in?
Can we organize a national solidarity movement to tell the owning classes to go to hell?
jstevens - "If the true cost of oil (a destroyed planet, for one) was reflected in the price there would be more railroad jobs, and less trucking jobs."
Abso - f-ing - lutely. It'd be much more like Sweden, where small-scale hydroelectric powers trains that carry everything as close to the final destination as they can. However, to quote Fillmore in the movie Cars, "It's a conspiracy, man! The oil companies have a grip on the government, and they're feeding us a bunch of lies, man!"
since1492 Said: "The only label that should be put on these truckers is PATRIOTIC"
I wouldn't label ANYONE Patriotic as that term has lost all meaning. In fact, patriotism is the club wielded by the rich/elite to keep the common man in line.
Trucker courtesies - please add -
When a trucker passes you on the highway and signals to reenter your lane Flash your headlights to let em know the space is good. You get red wink thank you in return.
I no longer drive a car because of the oil question - but if these guys are applying themselves to get the government to listen - I'm behind them 100%!
No matter how much we hate the oil dependency these are neighbors and who knows... maybe the core and leaders of a new public transport coalition.
Hey you folks behind the wheel of the big rigs... what kind of support would it take to get you to throw your weight behind a major shift? Is it possible? How big can we dream???
See, we as a people have lost our revolutionary spirit... There was a time when the common people would rise up in the face of tyranny and take matters into their own hands...
"By 1787 there was not only a positive need for strong central government to protect the large economic interests, but also immediate fear of rebellion by discontented farmers. The chief event causing this fear was an uprising in the summer of 1786 in western Massachusetts, known as Shays' Rebellion."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shays'_Rebellion
Don't flash your high beams, if you want to signal, just flick your lights off and on once, or hit the right turn signal once. That's especially beneficial if it's a double or triple trailer and then don't tail gate them.
When the price of diesel rose to $1.60 several years ago, about 1998, there were mass demonstrations by truckers. It dropped 20 cents a gallon almost overnight and then kept dropping a penny a week for awhile.
This last five years it kept steadily going up a penny or two at a time from $1.35 to $1.76, To $2.50 and now is over $4.00 a gallon and no protests. Can't firgure that one out.
Someone wrote only 9% of truckers are independents?? I do believe that is a very wrong figure. Many of the major truck firms use drivers who own their own rigs, but use the major company colors and name logos. The owner operators are responsible for all vehicle maintenance and fuel costs and the major company pays them by the mile. A husband wife as team drivers could earn six figures a year when fuel was $1.60 a gallon. Of course they never knew where they'd be one week from the next. It ain't a rosy lifestyle.
Kem. I've read that figure of 9% in several places as well as heard it on NPR.
http://blog.mlive.com/saginawnews/2008/03/independent_truckers_groan_as.html
www.wsws.org/articles/2008/mar2008/truc-m18.shtml
Rebelnow: While waiting to get loaded in Baltimore (which required bribing the boss) I asked him how come he ships so much by truck when he has boxcars sitting right there. He said it takes him a month to get a boxcar, but a truck can cross the country in a few days. Time is money, as they say.
I wonder how many of these truckers, being businessmen, voted for the Republicans that have screwed them?
Anyway, the rise of interstate trucking exactly parallels the rise of automobile use in this country. I predict that we will soon see anything more than 200 miles away being shipped by train, just like in the good ol' days.
Could this be the beginning of workers taking to the streets to help wrest our country from the Social Capitalism of the Rich?
Naaah. We're in America land of the 'know-nothings (and proud of it)'
You folks MUST read "Deer Hunting With Jesus" by Joe Bageant. It will go a long way toward helping you understand why working people vote republican, thereby voting against their own best economic interests.
As for Rush Limbaugh, why does he even have the slightest credibility? He is a (possibly recovering but probably not) drug addict. Do you folks generally let drug addicts tell you how to vote, what political beliefs to hold. Rush Limbaugh. Oh yeah.
Truckers like almost any other group had too many Republican (especially neocon) votes. The planet can't stand any more of this philosophy. Don't cheer too much because MEXICAN TRUCKS and DRIVERS are coming to your neighborhood soon. As soon as those evil regulations on hours of driving and truck maintenance are repealed. This round of deregulation will boost the economy yet again just like Nafta, cafta etc, Bu$h the inferior's tax cut 1, tax cut 2, Reagan tax cuts, Chinese most favored nation, the Iraq war................
Soon the sound of platinum tipped golden walking sticks tapping on the silver sidewalks will be deafening as all us billionaires mosey down to the marina to inspect our 400 foot yachts. VOTE REPUBLICAN
It shouldn't be too difficult to "monkeywrench" those Mexican big rigs. No harm to the drivers, please!! Just the tractors.
kent...it's not the Mexicans who need to be "monkey-wrenched".
The first rule of survival is to know thy enemy and it ain't the Mexicans. The enemy is the USA CEO/politician. Just follow the money.
The truck drivers might be the driving force that save of all. I hope that they all park their rigs and take a long spring-time nap. Truck drivers can bring the oil companies and other crooks to their knees in no time.
An old American tradition ....
During the great depression, everyone in a community would rally around the farmer or homeowner who's property was about to be foreclosed on. The Sheriff would find a mob too large for him to deal with when he went to foreclose on the property. Or the auction of the foreclosed property would be jammed with people in the community preventing anyone from bidding on the land.
This goes way back. The American revolution began this way. A year before Lexington and Concorde, citizens of Massachusettes would not let the British control the courts that handled foreclosures then. The King tried to revoke the system where those judges were responsible to the community. The result was crowds of thousands of armed citizens greeting the King's new judges when they came to hold court, and they were forced to resign. Lexington and Concorde was the King's attempt later to try to put down this rebellion and seize arms these citizens were gathering for self-defense.
A community gathering together to stop a foreclosure is an old American tradition among patriotic Americans who were proud to claim the title 'citizen'.
When owner operators contract to drive for Southwest, JB Hunt, Donko, United, Mayflower, Beakins, US freight, and many, many other large fleets, they are not listed as idependent drivers, they are listed as "company" drivers. The 9% is way off as far as being accurate, ~Rebelnow~, for there are many thousands of owner/oprerators not included in that 9%figure.
The train cannot deliver to every grocery store in america. The goods would still have to be transported by truck to a destination.
More people need to speak up to the corporations. The economy is controlled by 60% of buying. That gives us all the power to squash the economy.
People need to speak up an embarass the corporations. A lot of stores ask me for a dollar every time I purchase something for a charity.
I will loudy say "No and are they paying you commission." Of course this is unheard of in corporate america today and the clerk will say "No, but it is going to a good cause."
I reply " A better cause is for the corporation to invest in human capital."
People look at me in 2 ways -some are scared and the others think I am part of the media.
In China the government substidizes gas. Why doesn't the gov. do squat in this country to help the working people?
If any think we can rely on trains for moving produce from the Mexican border to New York before it spoils, they better have some drastic changes in how the train fellas operate their schedules.
We'll always have trucks and they cannot operate at a profit when the price of fuel is higher than the value of the mercandise they carry.
The drivers rules and Federal CDL regulations are very fair and 'absolutely necessary' for safety reasons. If they change them to satisfy the Mexican truckers, we are going to see some really nasty accidents. We have far too many as it is with the set CDL rules and regs enforced.
The airline industry is about to collapse due to the price of fuel. (Jet fuel is about $4.50 at the pump for business jets, though the airlines don't pay that much...yet.)
It's getting to the point that they are shoveling out cash faster than they can make it. Management has cut staffing numbers, line worker (customer service, mechanics, flight attendants, etc.) salaries and benefits to the bone and they still can't turn a profit reliably. What do you do when there are no more seats to fill on the plane and it STILL loses money? Damned if I know - I only spent 25 years in that business.
The latest wave of maintenance violations is only a symptom. The cutting has reached into the muscle and bone of the companies and there's nowhere left to cut. I fear the wholesale collapse of the airlines soon if nothing changes.
Kem, re: the 9% quote, I'm not sure what the distinction is but I'll take your word for it. I'm not experienced with this area, only quoting what I've read (bad idea sometimes).
As per the train topic, (maybe I'm biased cuz my dad worked the railraod in his youth and had some great stories), I do think there were some shenanigans with the oil companies and trucking companies vs the railroads, and the railroads lost out. I need to research this but I think there was a concerted effort to not repair rail lines, or update the system, in a deliberate attempt to make trains inefficient. Same for the the passenger lines.
Question Authority: I agree. The airline industry was left to flounder after September 11. High fuel prices are the last straw. Routine maintenance is performed in countries with questionable standards. Everyday, it seems there are mishaps and close calls.
Evelyna, 99% of the distance could be covered by trains. Only the last few miles would need to be covered by trucks.
I have read that the railroad industry is almost completely booked with the transport of coal, and looking around, that appears to be true. New tracks are incredibly expensive, but if fuel costs are allowed to rise, we will be forced to look at other measures. Although the Alberta tar sands are a notable exception, higher prices could result in cleaner fuel choices.
Low fuel prices are not a basic right. In Europe, gasoline prices are much higher, so there is much less waste than we have in America. While much of the rest of the world is conserving, Americans think they are entitled to fuel so cheap that it is frittered away with obvious consequences for the planet. The purpose of the Strategic Oil Reserves is not to keep prices artificially low. Even if they were released, the solution would only be temporary.
It is very interesting that diesel, while the cheapest to refine, is much more expensive than regular gasoline right now. I can see why the truckers would be angry about the discrepancy.
evelyna: "Why doesn't the gov. do squat in this country to help the working people?"
Simple Answer: THEY DON'T GIVE A FUCK ABOUT THE WORKING PEOPLE. They're better than you don't ya know.
The oil barons ruined the train systems.
If you check trucking firms, you will have two books the size of New York city telephone directories. Most are corporations. A mom/pop company with one truck will incorporate, for tax and liability reasons. Many have two rigs, or two trailers for backup, in case of a breakdown. So they are incorporated and don't show as independent operators.
If diesel were sold by it's BTU value, it would be $6+ a gallon. Yes, many foreign countries gas prices are much higher than ours, mostly from taxes. We could tax our gas another $3 or more a gallon, but what would that do to our current economy, which is already falling apart becauese of high fuel costs.
To protest the high cost of fuel, we should all petition the BIG OIL COMPANIES to help out. They can afford to give a price break to the independent truckers. God knows big oil doesn't pay their share of taxes. While the OIL COMPANIES are at it, the airlines that are suffering from inflated fuel prices should get oil companies to bail them out too. If oil companies would freeze their profits at, say last year's level, they could pass their excesses back to the economy. Those who don't want government regulation should "privatize" the solution to this economic mess by takig a little less profit. It's the RIGHT thin to do!
I love what these truckers are doing! I remember when this happened in the '70's. But the outcome is going to be a whole lot different this time.
The problem is us; each and every one of us. We have become consumers instead of citizens. The only time we seem to become outraged is when something hits us personnaly in our own pocket books. And don't let us even discuss the fact that we are all wage slaves to the Master. Or our addiction to credit (free money?). Or our addiction to consumption and unsustainable life style.
Look, I'm not blaming here. I'm just as guilty as anyone else. I didn't think about peak oil or climate change. It just never really registered that my exorbandent lifestyle was on the backs of slave labor in other countries.
But the chickens of my ignorance are now coming home to roost. I'm having to rethink this whole thing I have call "life" in America. I know there is no future in trying to maintain what has been. It can't be done. I have to look at what is actually realistically possible in the not so distant future. And that future is post-carbon. And that means that everything I take for granted today will be gone. Forever. Gone. Never to come back.
Hard working Americans are up to this task. We can do this. But first we ALL have to let go of what has been. We have to envision a different future before we can put our shoulder to it. Together.