A brief note of appreciation from our government leaders to all Americans.

Truckers demanding government action against rising diesel fuel and taxes. ( I was going to post
a picture of angry American truckers but all I could find were angry French truckers, sorry.)

Last week there appeared an article in the El Paso Times about a local trucking company comprised of a small fleet of five semi trucks. I'm extremely disappointed in this company that is in its final throes of extinction. Unable to recoup the cost of goods transported because the diesel required to move goods costs more than their reimbursement for doing so, the company is devouring itself, i.e., selling off its trucks. Quitting. Giving up.

I don't recall exactly how many trucks remain in its fleet but the number that comes to mind is one, maybe two. Sadly, after just doing a search, I can't bring up the article. That's because it's archived after a week's time and, like much of America, the cost of something so frivolous as viewing archives is the sacrifice of dwindling resources better spent elsewhere - towards filling my gas tank or a couple of bananas from El Salvador rather than reading "old news."

But what impressed me about this enterprising man with his trucks and his truck drivers (a man whom I fantasize probably voted for a pro-business political ticket last election) was the quiet resignation of his fate. Not once did he or his drivers participate in any demonstration of dissatisfaction or anger at the killing of his business! For this, I'm sure the president and other people in Washington who comprise the government (like congress) are thankful.

It was only after reading James Howard Kunstler's chronicle this week that I was reminded of this. As Kunstler noted, "The passivity of US truckers so far has been a striking feature of the general zombification of American life. They might continue to just crawl off one-by-one and die."

Kunstler's "general zombification" of Americans really describes for me the disappointment of a citizenry too distracted, too anesthetized to see what's about to flatten all before we know what's hit us.

As Kunstler goes on to say, "it's also possible that, at some point, Americans will mount a Night-of-the-Living-Dead offensive and take their vengeance out on 'the system' that has brought them to ruin. America has only about a three-day supply of food in any of its supermarkets."

I keep praying for such an awakening but my fear is more than likely truckers will bite the dust of America's highway shoulders until the last remaining truckers, finally expressing anger at the system killing them all are so few, any attempt to demonstrate, protest, to block a major highway artery will result in the minor inconvenience of motorists exiting the interstate for the frontage road until the next interstate on ramp.

And for that I'm sure the president and other people in Washington who comprise the government (like congress) will be thankful for the patience and the calm we all exhibited in our own slow deaths. Zombies indeed!

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