I’m working in a local historical archive this summer, and while the head archivist is away I’m basically in charge of the place. The people working downstairs know this, and yet they insist on making my life difficult. Today is craptacular. The archives are closed from noon to 1:00pm in order for me to go out, get a sandwich, and stretch my legs. At 11:55, however, the ignorami watching the door sent up a family of tourists wanting to do research on their family history. They had come a long way, so I couldn’t very well tell them we were closing in 5 minutes, but I also couldn’t leave them unsupervised among our document collections. So I have to sit here while they go about their work and give me odd looks each time my stomach rumbles. I’ve decided to just start typing this in order to keep occupied.
So here’s the deal: I have a lot of ideas that are batshit crazy and are most definitely unpopular, but they just might be right. I’m not saying they aren’t without flaws, or that they wouldn’t make life more difficult, or even that they are even remotely practical. What I am saying, is that maybe they’re worth looking at.
This was inspired by a program I recently heard on CBC radio – “The Contrarians.” They began the series with an episode entitled “Why Marriage Rights are Bad for Gays and Good For Stephen Harper” (the PM, a George Bush-style conservative) They made a compelling case, I must say. The issue of gay marriage is great for Harper and Bush, because the y win votes on both sides of the fence. They courts will always uphold gays’ rights to marry, hence placating the rabid left, and the PM can placate the right himself by being personally against it. Marriage, they content, is a heterosexual-imposed social restraint which makes homosexuals more conservative and mainstream, diluting their “will” to fight for other forms of social acceptance. (The radio people put the whole thing much more eloquently than I could ever hope to)
The first of my unpopular ideas? It’s to ban the internal combustion engine. It has absolutely no redeeming qualities in today’s world. Anything it does can be done cheaper, more efficiently, and cleaner by other means. The spinoffs are many:
1. The emissions form the cars’ engines currently constitutes a large percentage of the total pollutants pumped into the atmosphere by human activity. By banning automobiles, the carbon mon/dioxide contributing to climate change would be limited to such an extent that the hole in the ozone layer may begin to repair.
2. The need for local transportation would create a market for horses. Stables and veterinarians would enjoy increased business, creating numerous job opportunities.
3. Unlike automobiles, horses and carriages cannot travel at excessive speeds, ergo the number of traffic fatalities would be greatly diminished.
4. There is no need to pave roads with asphalt for horse carriages, due to the moderate speeds at which they travel. Governments would save millions by simply grading gravel roads a few times per year.
5. Without automobiles, people would be forced to walk more often, which would do much to curb the rising rates of obesity.
6. As people would be walking, downtown areas would enjoy increased business, as they tend to be closer to residential areas. These tend to be local shops and services rather than “box” stores located on the edges of towns. Profits would stay in local communities rather than being sent elsewhere.
7. The increased need for horses would naturally lead to an increased demand for hay and fodder. Farmlands abandoned for decades could be reclaimed and made profitable by growing hay. Unemployed people could find gainful work on these farms.
8. With more people working the land, more local produce would be grown and there would be less reliance on foreign imports.
9. Average people would no longer have to worry about rising fuel costs, insurance fees, and maintenance for their automobiles. The extra money would go to other sectors of the economy.
10. Public streets would be far less noisy with reduced automobile traffic.
11. Convicted criminals could serve part of their sentences cleaning public streets of horse manure. The manure could then be sent to the newly re-established farms and used as fertilizer.
12. In lieu of truck traffic, rail systems should be rebuilt and revitalized. Lines between communities should be open to both passenger and freight traffic. Both could easily stop in smaller centres while keeping on strict schedules (it worked in the 19th century, so it should be easier to accomplish in the 21st)
13. Auto mechanics and related professions thrown out of work by the new laws, would have first “dibs” on well-paying railroad jobs and land grants for the new farms.
I know there’re arguments about freedom or choice and whatnot, but I don’t really care. Sometimes a little top-down heavy handedness from the authorities are what is necessary to save society from itself. There are a lot of things that are just plain bad for us, but lots of people would do it anyway if the government hadn’t make it illegal, such as drugs or cigarettes. Automobiles are equally dangerous and damaging and should be banned for our own good.
So here’s the deal: I have a lot of ideas that are batshit crazy and are most definitely unpopular, but they just might be right. I’m not saying they aren’t without flaws, or that they wouldn’t make life more difficult, or even that they are even remotely practical. What I am saying, is that maybe they’re worth looking at.
This was inspired by a program I recently heard on CBC radio – “The Contrarians.” They began the series with an episode entitled “Why Marriage Rights are Bad for Gays and Good For Stephen Harper” (the PM, a George Bush-style conservative) They made a compelling case, I must say. The issue of gay marriage is great for Harper and Bush, because the y win votes on both sides of the fence. They courts will always uphold gays’ rights to marry, hence placating the rabid left, and the PM can placate the right himself by being personally against it. Marriage, they content, is a heterosexual-imposed social restraint which makes homosexuals more conservative and mainstream, diluting their “will” to fight for other forms of social acceptance. (The radio people put the whole thing much more eloquently than I could ever hope to)
The first of my unpopular ideas? It’s to ban the internal combustion engine. It has absolutely no redeeming qualities in today’s world. Anything it does can be done cheaper, more efficiently, and cleaner by other means. The spinoffs are many:
1. The emissions form the cars’ engines currently constitutes a large percentage of the total pollutants pumped into the atmosphere by human activity. By banning automobiles, the carbon mon/dioxide contributing to climate change would be limited to such an extent that the hole in the ozone layer may begin to repair.
2. The need for local transportation would create a market for horses. Stables and veterinarians would enjoy increased business, creating numerous job opportunities.
3. Unlike automobiles, horses and carriages cannot travel at excessive speeds, ergo the number of traffic fatalities would be greatly diminished.
4. There is no need to pave roads with asphalt for horse carriages, due to the moderate speeds at which they travel. Governments would save millions by simply grading gravel roads a few times per year.
5. Without automobiles, people would be forced to walk more often, which would do much to curb the rising rates of obesity.
6. As people would be walking, downtown areas would enjoy increased business, as they tend to be closer to residential areas. These tend to be local shops and services rather than “box” stores located on the edges of towns. Profits would stay in local communities rather than being sent elsewhere.
7. The increased need for horses would naturally lead to an increased demand for hay and fodder. Farmlands abandoned for decades could be reclaimed and made profitable by growing hay. Unemployed people could find gainful work on these farms.
8. With more people working the land, more local produce would be grown and there would be less reliance on foreign imports.
9. Average people would no longer have to worry about rising fuel costs, insurance fees, and maintenance for their automobiles. The extra money would go to other sectors of the economy.
10. Public streets would be far less noisy with reduced automobile traffic.
11. Convicted criminals could serve part of their sentences cleaning public streets of horse manure. The manure could then be sent to the newly re-established farms and used as fertilizer.
12. In lieu of truck traffic, rail systems should be rebuilt and revitalized. Lines between communities should be open to both passenger and freight traffic. Both could easily stop in smaller centres while keeping on strict schedules (it worked in the 19th century, so it should be easier to accomplish in the 21st)
13. Auto mechanics and related professions thrown out of work by the new laws, would have first “dibs” on well-paying railroad jobs and land grants for the new farms.
I know there’re arguments about freedom or choice and whatnot, but I don’t really care. Sometimes a little top-down heavy handedness from the authorities are what is necessary to save society from itself. There are a lot of things that are just plain bad for us, but lots of people would do it anyway if the government hadn’t make it illegal, such as drugs or cigarettes. Automobiles are equally dangerous and damaging and should be banned for our own good.
