This post may get me into trouble.
Gas prices just aren’t high enough. They really aren’t. That is, if we really want justice in the world.
Don’t get me wrong, I hate paying upwards to $4.00/gallon just as much as the next guy and I complain probably twice as much — that just proves that most days I’m a walking talking paradox of contradictions. That aside, I find it very interesting that some people (myself included) who are constantly ranting and raving about the need for justice in the world are the same people demanding that they pay almost half as much in gas prices as the rest of world — the same world that according to them, is in dire need of justice.
That just doesn’t really add up for me.
Frankly, it makes it a little hard for me take the people who get on their soap box about all the problems in the world while at the same timewhining about the cost of gas for their Hummer, or the high interest rate on their hybrid payment very seriously.
One word. Consistency.
Now granted some people are paying less, but they live in countries where only the richest of the rich elite can afford a vehicle. Of the developed Western countries, the US ranks among the cheapest in gas prices. And we have for a while. Were we living in a just world, we’d be paying twice as much, at least.
I know it’s hard for anyone to be completely consistent while living within an empire like we do. But we can do the best we can. And at the very least we can be aware of our actions, which define and dictate our ethos, and, more importantly, our theology.
So I wonder — what if instead of demanding justice out of one side of our mouth while bemoaning our addiction to oil and capitalism (only when it is convenient of course) with the other — what might happen if we showed some solidarity with the rest of the world, not by demanding lower gas prices, but by accepting nothing less than higher gas prices?
I understand the problems with this. But at the very least I think it’s something to think pretty seriously about. And I use the gas issue only as a timely example of our larger problem: the fact the we can very easily decry injustice in the world from our positions of privilege (like writing blogs for example) while at the same time demanding that injustice and the status quo be further reinforced.
The very least we can do is be aware of our contradictions while actively finding ways to show solidarity and participating in acts of resistance from within the belly of the beast.
4 responses so far ↓
1 Jeremy! // Jun 19, 2008 at 10:06 am
Theoretically, I’m 100% with you. It’s basic economics: make a commodity high priced, and the demand will go down. We tried that at OCU my first year: make the parking permits over $400, and people won’t drive their cars. Parking crunch fixed!
Practically, though, I think it would cause too much of a strain on those who are poor and underprivileged to have to shoulder more costs.
To me, this is the same as raising the sales tax and doing away with income taxes. Pundits are always pushing this to “equalize” things…but the net effect will be a higher burden on those who are poor. If both those who are poor and rich pay $6/gallon to fill a $60 tank, that’s 20% of a $300 workweek (which is above poverty level), but only 5% of a $1200 work week ($60k/year). See the inequality?
2 B. Kyle // Jun 19, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Great post! Any opinion on Bush & Co’s request to Congress to lift the ban on offshore drilling?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7460767.stm
3 blake // Jun 19, 2008 at 5:09 pm
i apologize for not responding sooner. i’ve been out box hunting.
@jeremy. i understand where you’re coming from there, and you’re right, practically that is a legitimate concern. but as a thought process, i’m more interested in the larger global picture and especially the place of the US. i’m not challenging what you’re saying, it is true, but it still places the US in the center of things. i think that’s part of the problem.
for the record, i’m not at all interested in raising the prices of oil, and in turn, gas just so the demand will go down and make it easier in the long run for people like you and i. on the contrary, i’m simply wondering why we in the US demand that we pay less at the expense of others. this imperial ethos has led to a host of problems like our creating a monster in the middle east for example.
again, i see you concern — they are obvious problems with raising the domestic price of gas, indeed there are inherent problems with our economic system. i’m trying to step outside that and ask why we insist on being at the center of global economy and i’m using the oil issue as an example: why do we use the world’s resources up first to ensure that our domestic interests (gas prices) are taken care while at the same time not caring about who gets what is left or whether there is anything left at all. in other words, using gas prices as an example, i’m wondering why we insist on having a permanent place at the table while shoving most everyone else who doesn’t serve out interests underneath the table to scavenge for crumbs in the event there are any.
@b. kyle. my response to that? well, you know what they say about junkies — when they run our of veins in their arms they will start sticking themselves in the toes and anywhere else to get a fix.
we’re hard up for a fix. and we insist on doing that rather than going through the painful process of rehab. only a mere band aid, not to mention the desecration of nature.
4 Philip Brooks // Jun 20, 2008 at 10:41 am
I will submit this idea, Can we really gripe about the gas prices if(and I am not saying everyone lives this way)we are eating out for dinner every other night, buying the latest computers,phones and technology,traveling, spending our money like water. We should feel very blessed that we even have the means to do all that. I only gripe about the gas prices when it is so unregulated industry that they can charge whatever they want and get away with it, which affects us all in one way or another no matter what type of lifestyle we are living. When they have us used to paying around one certain amount for a product or service for a very long time and we wake up one day and all of the sudden we paying double or triple the amount for the same product or service and i cant write up a consistant family budget of what to spend our money on then i think there is a problem that needs to be looked at.
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