Rick Wells
It is no surprise that a big brother governmentintent on eventually taxing people’s natural right to breathe through carbon taxes would progressively work their way in that direction by increasingly taxing our mobility. Their method of gradual, almost unnoticed encroachment on civil rights and our basic freedoms demands it.
Democrat Congressman Earl Blumenauer of Oregon reintroduced legislation on Tuesday which would require a government study to determine the most practical ways of taxing drivers based upon how far they drive, supposedly under the premise of funding federal highway programs.
There are already a multitude of taxes on fuel as well as highway use taxes for commercial vehicles, and the Representative’s home state has some of the most severe in the country. A per gallon tax on fuel is by nature a tax on the amount of driving done by the consumer. Intrusion into where a person goes is beyond any of the government’s business as far as revenue generation is concerned.
Blumenauer’s bill, H.R. 3638, establishes a Road Usage Fee Pilot Program, a study of mileage-based fee systems. He portrays his “forward thinking” bill as a long-term solution for funding highway programs. He’s got the short term covered as well, proposing to nearly double the gasoline tax from 18.4 cents to 33.4 cents per gallon.
In the article, Blumenauer tips his hand as to the forces behind his proposal when he characterizes his replacement tax system as “sustainable.” The word “sustainable” is code for the United Nations takeover of our lands and our government through their “environmental” mandates under the “Agenda 21” program being implemented throughout the world, including the United States. Bill Clinton got the environmentally “justified” turnover of sovereignty started through executive order back in his first term and the creeping takeover has been under way ever since.
This legislation would benefit no Americans, but it would serve to restrict our mobility and compromise, through legislative, financial and other mechanisms, our freedom to travel as we choose. The term staycation is a new addition to our lexicon born out of a financial inability for people to travel.
Asking permission of the government to travel in a vehicle which has the technology incorporated into it, and which can be either activated or deactivated based upon compliance and bureaucratic decision making would be the next logical evolution for this technology.
Controlling our mobility is critical to creating a compliant society. Remote control of our vehicles is the logical next step for control freak Democrats.
Agenda 21, aka “sustainable development” seeks to consolidate the population into high-density zones, with most of the yet undeveloped or rural land restricted from human occupation and use. The ability to deny access by disabling and tracking a vehicle would be valuable to the controlling authorities in limiting or preventing travel in unauthorized areas.
In 2011, the Department of Transportation authored a proposal for this type of “Vehicle Miles Traveled” (VMT) system, stating it would, “increase public awareness regarding the need for an alternative funding source for surface transportation programs and provide information on possible approaches.”
Another way to state that would be, “ to begin the public brainwashing that this is necessary for their own good as we fail to use existing funds in a responsible manner for the maintenance of the American surface transportation system and use our mismanagement as the justification for further tax increases.”
To this point, these naked attacks against our basic human rights have been strongly opposed by conservatives and privacy advocates. But give the progressives time. They just keep trying until they catch us napping or we become numb to what they are doing. Eventually, they usually get what they are after.