VIEWPOINT
Through the roof, please
By EMILY BEAM once we get beyond that, it's hard to pick
just one angle in arguing why gas should
wo-fiftyagallon?Bringiton.Let's cost more. There's Thomas Friedman's
see gas hit $3 a gallon nationwide, recent call to treat oil as a national securi-
perhaps even $4. Then we'd wake ty issue. We can talk about terrorism, for-
up. Drivers might start considering what eign oil dependence and even the oil crisis
"fuel economy" actually means, or at of the 1970s as reasons why using less oil
least hesitate before buying another gas- would have very practical benefits. Cur-
guzzling, leather-upholstered tank. Keep rent gas prices reflect some pretty gener-
it up for a while, and we might rethink the ous oil subsidies and do little to account
way we develop our cities - significant for the environmental costs of the aver-
fuel conservation is made far more diffi- age 17,000 miles each of us drives annu-
cult by our present sprawl-ridden society ally. Keeping in mind that automobiles
that requires we drive 10 minutes to the account for two-fifths of our petroleum
grocery store, 20 minutes to the gym and use, it isn't too hard to see that cuts in fuel
45 minutes to work. consumption would translate very nicely
Like everyone else, I cringed the other to reductions in the 20 billion barrels of
day when I half-filled my gas tank (it's not oil a day we shamelessly consume.
as expensive if you don't buy as much). The existence of sports utility vehicles
Although I now hesitate before embark- seems like sufficient evidence in itself
g on lengthy road trips, I certainly still that, yes, we use too much gas. Unless
drive - gas doesn't cost that much yet. you have a specific need to haul around
Even with gas prices up dramatically, an apartment's worth of furniture or your
other nations still pay far more. Back in five children while sloshing down muddy
May of 2004, according to CNN, British dirt roads, you have no right to complain
citizens were paying some $5.64 a gal- when you shell out $50 at the pump.
lon. And Norway, Germany, Korea, Tur- Looking long-term, there is enormous
key - all well above $4. But we're not potential in pricey gas. Imagine the new
paying less than all countries, at least not jobs created by developing new fuel
in absolute terms. Gas was around $1.50 sources and improving current efficiency,
a gallon in Russia and China at a time the closer-knit, more centralized commu-
when U.S. prices were nudging $2, but nities we would build, the emergence of
U.S. incomes are quite a good dealhigher bus and rail networks that put SMART
than those in other parts of the world. and Amtrak to shame. Even if higher gas
For comparative purposes, I calculat- prices won't save the world, they certain-
ed a rough and oversimplified estimate ly hold some promise.
of how long an average worker (earning So far, the U.S. economy keeps
the annual gross domestic product per growing while oil prices beat their own
capita with 40-hour weeks, 50 weeks a records. Higher oil prices might be tem-
year, if you're feeling picky) would need porarily painful, but ultimately they will
to clock in to buy a gallon of gas. In the be the only thing that forces industries to
United States: just under 6 minutes. In find new ways to fuel their production.
Russia and China: 18 minutes and 32 Accounting for inflation, even current
minutes, respectively. In Britain: 23 gas prices haven't surpassed levels of the
minutes. Personal favorites were Tur- early 1980s, when a gallon of gas topped
key (79 minutes) and Cambodia (154 out at an inflation-adjusted $3.10 and con-
minutes). Looking at it a bit differently, sumers, as a consequence, really cared
if we worked as long as Russians do to about fuel efficiency. It could take a lot
buy gas, we'd have to pay almost $6 a of time, money and effort to significantly
gallon. For Cambodians, over $50. reduce our gasoline consumption, but
In short, Cambodians don't drive a lot, nothing will accelerate innovation and
and we pay way too little for our gas. change like angry consumers. For now,
Despite this clear global discrepancy, it nothing will change until Americans feel
can be difficult to look past the hit our wal- the strong motivation that only higher gas
lets are taking and recognize the greater prices can induce, and our current $2.50
good that higher gas prices promote. But a gallon simply isn't high enough.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
A2, nation apathetic lazy or indifferent to care. Others say that
To THE DAILY: the media is at fault. Still others claim
I am hopeful that this recent primary that the date of the primary is the reason
will help people recognize a problem so few showed up. I would agree with
that exists across our entire nation: a all these points. But the fact is we have
lack of voter participation. Less than 8 nobody to blame but ourselves. We have
percent of registered voters exercised abandoned our right to complain to the
their voice in this recent primary. That City Council by not participating. Before
is simply pathetic. We claim to live in a we can gain legitimacy in Ann Arbor
representative democracy, but when so we must demonstrate that we are serious
few citizens participate, our government enough to fill in a few bubbles. Similarly,
ceases to function properly. I worked our demands in Lansing and Washington
very hard last fall registering people to will be met with deaf ears until we con-
vote and then following up to make sure sistently participate in every election. We
that they attended the polls. That work may not win every battle, but we will be
should be unnecessary. Citizens of this given a seat at the table. SoI ask that you
nation should all register to vote in high take a moment and make a promise to
school, be informed of elections well in yourself and your city, state and country
advance, and cast their ballots every time that you will vote from now on.
a question is presented to them. Unfortu-
nately this is not the case. Some suggest Oz Hazel
that the problem is that the voters are too Law School
The Michigan Daily - Monday, August 15, 2005 - 5
Human nature loathes sobriety
ALEXANDRA JONES CEsi NEST PAS UNE PiPE DREAM
t's Sunday night mostly, they told us not to smoke tobacco, an underage kid to buy drugs than to
in the living but they covered illegal drugs and gang procure alcohol. How is it that in some
room of a small violence as well. states, the possession of a drug like
apartment in a col- The right amount of skewed informa- marijuana can carry a life sentence, or
lege town some- tion was given to scare us away from push- that outrageously tough federal laws can
where. Two guys ers and paries, and it usually worked until supercede state decisions about marijua-
are sitting around we were 14 or 15. By then, a lot of kids na use? Why is Western drug policy the
the TV on couches, are skeptical enough, fearless enough, to way it is? These are the questions drug
beers in hand; both test some of the claims made by educa- education should answer.
are underage. A few tors and parents; they're confident that Rather than rolling himself in a blan-
feet away from them in the kitchen, a they can experience the effects these sub- ket and pretending to be a joint, the dad in
girl is putting the finishing touches on a stances have on the brain and body with- that Partnership for a Drug-Free America
bowl of homemade guacamole. She's got out dropping out of school or becoming ad should be asking his kid if she knows
a beer, too, standing with the hot sauce junkies. Unlike our parents, who could who Harry J. Anslinger was, or that the
and the bright green little bottle of lime buy beer while they were in high school British East India Company monopolized
juice on the counter. She grabs the guac and drop acid while it was still legal, kids the opium trade between India and China
and a bag of chips, sits down on the floor like me were expected to take comfort in for decades in the 18th century, or that, in
in front of the couch and calls to a fourth, their knowledge of the effects of amphet- the Western world, classism, racism and
her roommate;^cartoons are coming on. amines, to know what used needles look xenophobia have had more effect on drug
"Wanna smoke a bowl?" someone says like, to understand what a lifetime of policy than has concern for public health.
with a grin, and they all laugh, because smoking and drinking does to people. In "The Pursuit of Oblivion," a comp e-
the question didn't really need to be Then, at a certain age, disillusion- hensivehistory ofilicitdrugusethroughout
asked. Weed is procured and smoked, but ment sets in. If drugs are so bad, and we recorded time, Richard Davenport-Hines
the scene doesn't change much: There's shouldn't associate with people who do writes: "It is easier to make things illegal
laughing, chatting, eating, the repetition drugs, then why do so many people use than to change human nature. The outburst
of funny-sounding phrases or gags on them? If alcohol is a drug, and drugs of twentieth-century legislating on the use
"Aqua Teen." Typical Sunday evening. are bad for you, then what does it mean of drugs modifiedthe way people behaved:
Do you think any of them thought that when your parents keep a steady supply of but it could not stop drug use."
what they were doing was legally, morally boxed wine in the fridge? Drugs - some The daughter in the ad should know that,
or ethically wrong? of them, anyway - can't be that bad in the words of Davenport-Hines, "intoxi-
People my age know an awful lot about for you, we reason. And the informa- cation is not unnatural or deviant. Absolute
drugs; we have ever since we were little tion that was once used to preemptively sobriety is not a natural or primary human
kids. Long before we experienced illicit scare us straight seems half-assed. Our state" She should know enough about the
substances firsthand, teachers, parents health teachers won't even tell us about history, uses and effects of drugs to choose
and national luminaries the likes of Nancy condoms - why should we believe any- how to explore her own existence.
Reagan told us all about drugs. Most of us thing else they say?
went through the D.A.R.E. experience, So we experiment - maybe a little, Jones is a Dailyfall/winter associate arts
in which a cop came to class and taught maybe a lot. But we've got to question editor. She can be reached at
the "skills" needed to resist peer pressure; the way things are when it's easier for almajo@umich.edu.
Drop my childhood and put your hands up
KARL STAMPFL -N:1EL CNVERsAiIONS
veryone to Aug. 4, 2005), Disney seemed like Bud Selig. Even Congress has leaped into
grows up the purest piece of Americana you could the game with last spring's hearings on the
sometime. imagine. In the last few years, though, its subject. You know you have a conspiracy
It happened to me reputation has been marred by television on your hands when powerful men push
just last week. I pundits standing in front of monitors that aside newsworthy things - Abu Ghraib,
was sitting at my read something witty such as "Trouble in anyone? - in favor of questioning profes-
cousin's kitchen the Mouse House?" sional athletes about whether they popped
counter reading The corporate offices have been rid- pills to bulge their biceps.
The New York dled with scandal, and four people have A few years ago, my grandmother
Times when it hap- died at Walt Disney World this year told me a story about a friend of a friend
pened. I came across an article about alone. Each death has shocked me to the whose daughter was kidnapped at Disney
a pitcher named Felix Hernandez who core. But what has shocked me more is World and was only found beause a secu-
was scheduled to make his first Major the television media's insistence on beat- rity guard recognized her shoes protruding
League start for the Seattle Mariners at ing these relatively insignificant stories from a blanket in an underground tunnel.
19 years old, the same age as me. well after they're dead. The four deaths The story turned out to be an urban myth
Before that moment, I have to admit I were unrelated, but still television news - a complete lie. It looks like even Grand-
still believed in some corner of my heart has tried its hardest to link them with ma's in on the plot to ruin my childhood.
that I had a chance to make it to the Big special reports on safety in the Magic I'm right with you, Peter Pan - grow-
Leagues. I could always pass off Major Kingdom. This is a vast left-wing con- ing up is tough. What's going to happen
Leaguers' superiority to me because spiracy seeking to corrupt children (and next? Are we going to find out that "Juras-
they were older than me. Let's be clear me) if I've ever seen one. sic Park" is scientifically impossible or
here: I haven't played organized baseball It doesn't end there. Have you watched that Walt Disney isn'tcryogenically frozen
since my freshman year of high school ESPN lately? It seems like the network somewhere beneath the deserts of Arizo-
when I went 2-for-32 over the course of can't even do a show about baseball with- na? It's getting more and more dangerous
the season and managed to commit five out using the word steroids. SportsCenter to pick up a newspaper every morning.
errors during a single doubleheader. But anchor Stuart Scott could be narrating a The only thing left to do is to try to
I still never completely ruled out leading documentary on Babe Ruth's penchant ignore it all. I'm not sure how long I can
the Chicago Cubs to their first National for boozing and he'd say, "Plus, he did it hold out. Adulthood is closing in from all
League Pennant since 1945. Remember, all without steroids, unlike everyone you sides. Soon I'll have a mortgage, monthly
this is coming from someone who has grew up watching if you're under 30." car payments and no Entre-Plus points.
seen Henry Rowengardner in "Rookie Of It's importantsto keep steroids out ofthe And who will I have to blame that on? My
The Year" go from hapless Little Leaguer game, but I'd be just as happy not know- only option will probably be to peg it on
to national hero in less than two hours ing aboutthe scandal. Over the last couple Felix Hernandez. After all, he did steal
countless times. years, most of my childhood heroes have my Major League roster spot.
Now I am void of hope. But Felix Her- fallen. Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro,
nandez isn't even the most of my troubles. Jason Giambi, Barry Bonds, Mark McG- Stampfl is a Dailyfall/winter administra-
Take the Walt Disney Company. wire - all have been slayed by unidenti- tion beat reporter. He can be reached at
When I was a child (from Jan. 11, 1986fied sources and baseball commissioner kstampfl@umich.edu.