78 lines
3.4 KiB
Plaintext
78 lines
3.4 KiB
Plaintext
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Conspiracy Nation -- Vol. 11 Num. 71
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=======================================
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("Quid coniuratio est?")
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LUXURY LANES FOR THE RICH
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By Jim Hightower
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(Broadcast locally on 1/24/98)
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There's an insidious and dangerous =dis-uniting= taking place
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inside our =united= States of America. Those at the top of our
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society are steadily separating themselves further and further
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from America's work-a-day majority. For example, while those
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making $100,000 or more per year have seen dramatic gains in
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their income over the past couple of decades, the 80 percent of
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us who make under $50,000 a year have either seen our income
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stagnate, or drop.
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But those at the top are separating themselves from us
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=physically= too. Their homes are in gated and guarded
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compounds. Their kids attend exclusive schools. And even at
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sporting events, they sit in luxury boxes that separate the
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hoity-toity from us hoi-polloi.
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But now comes another divisive development: they don't even want
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to drive with us! Believe it or not, the Federal Highway
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Administration is providing a $14 million annual subsidy to
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create luxury lanes on commuter highways, so the affluent can
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avoid rush-hour congestion. In Minneapolis, for example,
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privileged ones driving the stretch of I-394 that runs from the
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wealthy suburbs west of the city to downtown office buildings can
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now pay about $1,000 a year and get a special pass that literally
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puts them in the fast lane! While those of us in the
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old-Chevrolet class are bumper-to-bumper in a snarl of traffic,
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the Range-Rover rich go cruising by with a smug smile on their
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faces.
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Never mind that every lane of this $450 million highway was paid
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for by =all= taxpayers, the majority of us who cannot afford an
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extra thousand bucks for the luxury lane are rendered 2nd-class
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citizens.
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This is Jim Hightower saying, this bad idea is spreading -- with
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Houston, Los Angeles, Portland, Westchester County and other
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cities providing privileged access to their public freeways.
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Besides being an obvious target for driver rage, luxury lanes
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also represent a dangerous trend for our democracy.
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+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
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For related stories, visit:
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http://www.shout.net/~bigred/cn.html
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http://www.netcom.com/~feustel
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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Views expressed do not necessarily reflect those
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of Conspiracy Nation, nor of its Editor in Chief.
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I encourage distribution of "Conspiracy Nation."
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New mailing list: leave message in the old hollow tree stump.
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Want to know more about Whitewater, Oklahoma City bombing, etc?
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(1) telnet prairienet.org (2) logon as "visitor" (3) go citcom
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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Aperi os tuum muto, et causis omnium filiorum qui pertranseunt.
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Aperi os tuum, decerne quod justum est, et judica inopem et
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pauperem. -- Liber Proverbiorum XXXI: 8-9
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