The People's Gas

Socialism is alive and now counts Somerset, Kentucky as one address. Apparently the small town has felt the “pinch at the pump” of high gas prices for years, and decided to take action. Action in this case involved taking taxpayer money and establishing a gas-only filling station for the expressed purpose of lowering the price of gas in the area.

The mayor insists the city isn’t “out to make a profit.” That’s one promise the politician will have no problem keeping. The gas station itself may break even on its own sales, but it can’t help but reduce the income of other private businesses in the area, the ones that pay federal, state, and local taxes which, among other things, will be used to keep the gas-only station pumping away.

The locals that did not work at gas stations or for gas or oil companies seemed quite happy about the new gas station. One remarked that they were tired of seeing business leave town to go to other locations where gas tended to be cheaper. I have to wonder how happy people will continue to be as the observations continue. Suppose that business starts leaving town because the hotel rooms are cheaper a few miles down the road, or the groceries, or the food at the diner? There could be a lot of places where the government could step in to help keep the business in town. The only ones who would lose out are the businesses.

Then again, there’s no real need for the government to start from scratch as they did with the gas station. All they would have to do is set price controls for the local businesses, and that would accomplish the same thing. If you are too young to remember the hour long waits to fill up your car in the 70’s, the principle applies to just about anything. Think about going to the county fair on “wristband” day. Price controls result in shortages and rationing. The only real question is how long it takes for the situation to get really ugly.

I remember reading a particularly gruesome scene from a book a long time ago: A group of people was out on a fishing boat when they came on a group of small sharks. The man who owned the boat caught one of the sharks, and slit the animal’s belly with a sharp knife. The animal did not die right away, but began to bleed. The man then threw the shark back into the water. True to their nature, the other sharks homed in on the blood, and started to attack their comrade. As they did, little bits and pieces of him got loose and began to drift just from all of the activity. The original shark, the one with the slit belly, went after those. Even though it was being attacked and killed, it couldn’t overcome its primary instinct which was to feed, even if that meant eating itself.

The town of Somerset, Kentucky has decided to eat itself. It may not be quick, but unless they change course, it will happen, and it will be ugly. The only real question is how many others will come to feed as it’s going down.

Ultimate Ninja Symbolism

I was watching NBC’s “American Ninja Warrior” the other night as Kacy Catanzaro became the first woman to complete the qualifying course. It was an impressive run for an impressive young woman. She’s a great competitor, and a fine athlete. And, as I believe I commented to my daughter at the time, she has “pluck.” All in all, there’s a lot to admire about the lady. Despite that, I still found myself getting progressively more annoyed with her in the run up to her qualifying run.

Being the first woman to make it through the pre-qualifier, there was a lot of hype centered on her appearance. There were a lot of interviews done prior to the show, with clips played throughout. As I watched, a common theme was apparent: Kacy wants to show women they can do anything. Constant, always, ad nauseum. And while I noticed it more in Kacy’s clips because they were coming one right after another, it’s not as though she is unique in this regard. A lot the contestants seem to want to emphasize that they are there to show, to demonstrate, to represent. And to inspire. We must never forget inspire.

I’m sure that I’m making too much of this. It’s not as though the athletes edit and assemble their own clips for the show (at least, they don’t as far as I know), but that just shifts the question: Why does the network or producer or whoever is in charge feel the need, the compulsion to turn everyone who walks onto the course as a symbol for some sort of cause? Can’t all of the women and girls out there watching see that Kacy is a woman and draw the conclusion that a woman can complete the course? Or a diabetic? An engineer? A father? I understand that it helps build interest in the sport to give some background about the contestants, but do they really have to try to shove us into groups, like grading cattle, in this? Can’t we just look at the field and pick our own favorites?

I think the reason that I really find this annoying is that the American Ninja course is at its heart a test of the individual. There are no groups up there going through the course. It’s one at a time. And as much as I admire young Kacy’s effort, when she says that her getting through the qualifying course proves that women can do it, she’s wrong. She did it. She worked like crazy to do it, as did every other athlete that’s made it through and a good many others that have failed. I’m hoping that in the future, she gets a lot more credit for that success as a person rather than a symbol.