Political Prestigitation @ $121 a Barrel

I was wondering if politicians believe that when they make a proposal to fix a problem or address an issue that people are paying more attention to their magic words than what's going on behind their smoke and mirrors.

This "Gas Tax Holiday," proposed by both Senators McCain and Clinton, is the latest stop-gap solution pulled out of their hats. It's a proposal that serious economists, like Bloomberg and several Nobel Prize winners , say won't work. (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid
=aza2XQB.kk0k)

The "Holiday" is more like a vacation from our common sense, if we bite on it like a bass or a trout mistaking a sharp-hooked lure for a meal. The Holiday will potentially save consumers $28 dollars over a few months - total; not each month, $28 dollars. This comes at the same time (start the smoke machine and spin the mirrors here) the Republicans - The Bush administration and McCain in particular - are still pushing for permanent tax cuts for the rich. Those cuts will potentially save the rich millions of dollars. Those same, well-paid Americans can afford $4 or even the rumored $5-dollar-a-gallon gas. So if $28 is a Gas Holiday, millions in permanent tax cuts is a generational retirement. Not just their kids will never have to work, but their kid's kids will never have to work and pay taxes.

Every time I hear McCain or Hillary say a Gas Holiday is "Good" for Americans, magically I see them wearing a Bug's Bunny costume while saying, "Ikity-Akity-Oook! The Gas Holiday $28 dollars is yours..." While the rich may get millions? That's just down right insulting.

My favorite experience while in Europe wasn't slapping "The" Colosseum's gate 24, seven times - which was fun just realizing I was in Rome! - but getting a kick out of the Italian people and their activist spirit.

At any given time, when a politician - usually Berlesconi - makes a bad proposal that the people will have to live with, they'll shut the country down. The first thing to stop are the buses; when the driver hears the stupid proposal and their union says, "We're not taking this nonsense." And slowly but surely, usually where ever the buses happen to come to a stop - and despite the Italian's innovative driving skills - traffic comes to a halt.

There's also a good side to this. A funny thing happens; people get out of their cars, mill about, congregate and begin to talk. They talk to each other, they talk to the drivers who tell them what the politicians are proposing and they are usually empathized with rather than chastised for blocking traffic. Soon there's a family reunion or near-carnival atmosphere as walking vendors offer take espresso and sandwich orders.

The passing tourist may find this unusual or inconvenient, but in Italy, it works. Instead of just a one way, politician to the masses, discourse, they make their voices heard.

I find it amusing at times when it's said, "Use your vote to change the person in office," when the election is decided by the electoral college and super delegates who can negate the individual vote. We only need look at the last election in which Gore won the popular vote, but lost the Presidency to see how valuable our vote is. Americans accepted Bush silently and look at the cost: 4,000 service members dead , more than 30,000 wounded uncounted with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, an economy in disarray, trillions in debt and gas companies making record $17 Billion dollar profits.

Maybe we Americans could learn a lesson from those Italians.