[Clemenza]

The Civic is a good idea. Good on fuel.

My point is that I meet people who complain about higher fuel costs and tell me that they commute 40 miles because they wanted a bigger house on a larger lot. This has happened on more than one occasion. Granted, I once commuted 55 miles when I got my first job (lived at my parents house at the time), but I got a little apartment close to work after three months of misery.

There are some cases where long commutes may be necessary. In many cases, however, the guy/gal whining about high fuel prices and his/her long commute should have thought about such factors first before falling in love with the idea of a "large house on a big lot."

[wgflyer]

I think the point of this article was not so much that fuel price are high, but that government is a major source of the expense in fuels, as well as just about everything else in our lives, and when we do complain about the high price of fuel or other expenses we totally ignore (as we're meant to) that which government imposes on the price. And we're supposed to think even less about how government abuses those funds it confiscates.

Secondly, chastising a person who whines about confiscatory taxation because he had the nerve to buy a big house or lot is like blaming a rape victim for being raped or blaming a theft victim for leaving a door unlocked. It's a little off the point. Governments and other crooks love it when you blame the victim.

I always like to remember that "rich" and "poor" are very subjective concepts. Government rape of it's citizenry is pretty much demonstrable.

See fairtax.org if you haven't already.