2000-04-11

One time, during a rant with that boy Ben I know and love, I was talking about driving with a bit more emotion than such a subject warrants. I really hate myself for this, my obsession over transportation. I never cared before, when I left the moving to the MTA and NJT. Then, I didn’t have structural criticisms about what happened on the subway.

Funny stories mostly, narratives of animated life in spite of the underground situation. You can put a person underground, but that doesn’t mean they’re dead: Life in the subway. I am suggesting that as a quippy, amusing ad campaign for the MTA. Subway as are so sassy these days, much like the people.

Like the time when I thought I was going to be shot. Not really, afterwards I called it that since, when it was happening, I wasn’t really sure what was going on. The subway came to a halt, there was shouting and everyone on the far side of the car began to run towards my side. There I was standing with my short Latino friend around a lot of other short Latino men and when everyone is panicking and ducking down, who do these other men push down? Him, not me.

What really happened was that some guy decided to pull the emergency brake with a police man (person) in the same car. It was the police officer-person who pulled the gun and scared people because there is this thing called undercover police who are allowed to dress like the rest of us and fight crime. That doesn’t fit into my super hero ideal of fighting crime and they scare people on subway cars when they draw their guns. Spandex and capes usually allow people to know their intentions, to fight crime or go find the nearest downtown train. So everything was, relatively, safe.

The whole point is that these other guys left me wide open to take a bullet and tried to save my male friend instead. Lack of chivalry in certain situations pisses me off.

But now, that I am dependent on the car to bring me where I need to be, I talk about cars obsessively (see: Most other entries). Not just funny stories, because nothing funny ever happens in cars, or commuting cars. I think I am the funniest thing on the road because I see people laughing at me; I have dance parties in my car regularly. Give me a little Led Zeppelin and a bit of 10 mph traffic and we got a wild jam.

But my car talk is about who is in my way when I want to drive, when Led Zeppelin or any music that feels good simply cannot be found, despite fervorous tuning of the dial and all there feels to exist is slow drivers and certain types of cars.* Maybe, in my own compartment, sealed to the world, I think I have the right to drive how I want in the way I want within the limits of the amount of people on the road and given weather conditions.

And at this point, I clearly understood the emotional side of Republicanism and actually sympathize with those bastards for their feelings, though not their practices. What I realized is that my need to drive happily is effected by the rules of driving that are set up because people are stupid. Driving sensibly is a relatively easy thing to do if you are a sensible person. Unfortunately, some people aren’t and, even more sadly, some sensible people can’t drive (see: Marie). And what do we get? Speed limits, "No Turn on Red" and so forth. So those of us who know what we are doing are punished for being smarter than those of us who don’t.

Kind of like my interpretation of Republicans. Just because I’ve been able to make money and get to the right places doesn’t mean I should be held down through taxation and anything one feels is in the way of more of what they want.

The stupid part about Republicans is that they took their need for uninhibited freedom and applied it, primarily, to economics and money matters. The freedom of life would come about monetarily rather than through a more well-rounded happiness. What should have happened was equal general access to education, jobs and training (driver’s education being paramount) so that government operates, or attempts to operate in a more Orthodox Republican manner.

I would be a Republican if the initial chance was a bit less skewed. If people actually could get an education in an East LA public school comparable to Exeter. If people could actually know how to drive. Then I would be able to drive how I wanted to, knowing those who were less skilled would have to deal with the best and not the laws for the middle ground. I would be able to not worry about making at least $200 a month so I won’t default on my college loans because I had the educational desires of someone of a higher class. We would all be able to do what we wanted since we all had the same chance to do so.

My new politics is called Orthodox Socialist Republicans, it’ll be huge.

You wait and see.

*Think SUVs and Ford Taurus, especially blue Tauri