Before you go any further, read this...

Dictionary.com defines a redneck as:

1. an uneducated white farm laborer, esp. from the South.

2. a bigot or reactionary, esp. from the rural working class.

It goes on to say that redneck is A slang term, usually for a rural white southerner who is politically conservative, racist, and a religious fundamentalist. This term is generally considered offensive. It originated in reference to agricultural workers, alluding to how the back of a person's neck will be burned by the sun if he works long hours in the fields.

While I can't say all that fits me to a tee, a lot of it is pretty damn close.

You see, I lost both my parents before I turned 12 years old. I bounced around in a couple of foster homes before moving in with my uncle when I tuned 15. By age 17, I was on my own. I dropped out of school half way through 11th grade so I could go to work full time. Three months after my 18th birthday, I got behind the wheel of a cab for the first time.

I've learned more about life in 28 years in a hack than any philosopher ever could know. I've had multi-million dollar businessmen, celebrities and pro athletes as well as crack whores, drug dealers and murderers in my cab. I refuse to be an airport jockey or one of those guys that only stages at the hotels, so unfortunately, I have to deal with more of the bottom feeders of life than I do the upper crust.

It is the dealings that I've had the bad apples that has made me what I am today...

The Redneck Cabbie.

You see, to escape the madness of the city streets, my mind drifts off (not while I'm driving) to a quiet country town. A place where everyone knows everyone, and a man's handshake is as binding a contract as a person needs. A place where friends gather to down a couple of cold ones and listen to music that you can actually understand the words.

A place where young men don't walk around with their pants falling down over their ass, and young ladies don't have to dress like sluts to draw a man's attention.

I think you get the picture. I know, boring as whale shit to most city folks. I'd be living in a town just like that if it weren't for the fact that there's just not much demand for my line of work in most small towns.

This blog will reflect these feelings. If I seem a little bitter now and then, its just because that wonderful little town is nowhere in my near future, and because the life expectancy of someone in my line of work doesn't extend much past retirement age, all I can do is dream about it.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Gas prices... Brought to you by our wonderful free market society

Rush Limbawl and Sean Whaanity would tell you that our free market society is the envy of the world. Yet unless you make over $100k per year, can you afford to participate in this free market?

The dollar is proving to be worthless in this world market, and yes even the Canadian dollar is stronger than ours. You remember Canada, the country that takes care of its sick and elderly. Their economy is in better shape than ours.

Our wonderful free market system is letting already perversly rich individuals trade oil futures to ridiculously high levels, while the oil lobby throws millions at Congress to stifle funding for alternative energy solutions.

Meanwhile, poor schmucks like me can't afford to drive 50 miles out of town to go to the lake for the weekend. And we call this freedom.

They say freedom isn't free. Bet your ass it aint. Freedom is the ability to come and go as you please, but when it costs more for a tank of gas than it does for a monthly electric bill for a one bedroom apartment, who can afford to go anywhere.

My my most favorite way relax is to go on short road trips. These days I can't even afford to drive to the suburbs to see an old friend. They call this freedom?

Fact is, the more money you have, the more free you are. Is that what our founding fathers had envisioned?

1 comment:

Tman said...

you are so right John(happens every once in a while)today the DEMOCRATS squashed a bill to put an end on the Moritorium on off shore drilling in US waters. Whatn does that trell you about the wonderful people in control of our government?

TIME FOR A REVOLUTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!