Uh, yeah, looks like we do...

...have to argue this one. I don't think the argument's a rational one, because anyone capable of a moment's thought would agree that the manufacture and distribution of shopping bags is probably not one of the places we want to allocate petroleum and other valuable energy sources, not when reusable bags are virtually as convenient. But the fact that the argument isn't rational doesn't mean that it's not serious or heartfelt. One reader who responded to last week's column (see the previous post) revealed a lot of what's going on here:

"This [a proposed .20 fee for disposable shopping bags] is just the latest fad for people that want to walk around feeling they're better than everyone else...So, instead of simply doing what you think is right, stick that chest way out and tell people that aren't as smart you how they have to live their lives. Better yet, get a bunch of politicians, who are also better than everyone else, to pass laws that punish people who aren't as smart as you. Because if you stop and think about it, if these people are so stupid they don't realize how much smarter you are than everyone else, they have no right to even be in this country ... Sometimes I wonder if I could make it through life, if it wasn't for all of you wonderful, caring people telling me what I'm doing wrong."

I shared this comment and a few others in this week's column.

All of a sudden we're not talking about shopping bags anymore.

Do we have to fight about GROCERY bags?

If we can agree that as a society and economy we have to reduce our resource consumption, with wiser oil use and reduced greenhouse emissions at the top of the list (and, what, 75%, 90%, 95% of us can?) we're naturally going to look first for the most painless ways to cut down, right? Seems to me some minor adjustment of the container we use to bring stuff home from the grocery or drug store would be about as painless as it gets, so I threw the idea out in this column.

If we really have to fight this one out as a test case for personal freedom, what happens when we get to the tough changes? You gotta be pretty damn stubborn to hold onto optimism...

One more time...

...on these jaw-dropping Town Halls on health care. There's a pretty simple question here. We're apparently not going to agree on how to fix this mess, but can we agree that we have to have a public environment where it's safe to talk about it? If the answer to that is anything but "yes," then where the hell are we?

Can we even do democracy?

The Town Halls that members of Congress have been holding across the country make it clear that what's at stake is more than the supposed topic: health care reform. As if that weren't important enough on its own.

All that's at stake here, I'm arguing here, is whether we can possibly govern ourselves. If we can't, how good an idea is it really to "take our country back"?

Looking for work? Your government wants YOU.

I don't think I rank high on the contemporary Paranoia Scale. But I have my moments. One came just a little while back at LAX, one of hundreds of airports where a smooth recorded voice reminds you every 10 minutes that the Terror Alert Level has been raised to orange, so look out.

Check this out and let me know: Is it me? or Them?