Go, John, Go!

John McCain is calling for the suspension of federal gasoline taxes during the summer months as a way to stimulate the sagging U.S. economy. I have to wonder if he ever once considered a truer long-range strategy of using rising fuel prices to justify the elimination of the obscene gas-guzzlers that have come to represent just how ugly the American consumer can be. McCain’s proposal makes sense for the truckers who are paying exorbitant diesel prices to transport the goods we consume to their destination, or for the airlines that are attempting to do the same with their human cargo. But the idiot who insists on driving a two-ton, eight cylinder behemoth in order to lay claim to the title King of the Road doesn’t deserve any breaks whatsoever unless it would be a mental health rebate for psychological evaluation and therapy. Mary and I are still planning a summer auto trip to visit our parents, but that’s because our Prius gets 50 mpg and not because we want to shirk our responsibility to pay for the public highways we’ll be using. I still don’t understand what’s fiscally conservative about subsidizing stupidity.