Tesla’s For The Poor
This missive is first and foremost about the suddenly obscene cost of gasoline, and next about the ‘transitional’ cost of electric, gasoline-free cars, and finally, about race, as it relates to the general inability of the black, the brown, and the white lower and middle citizens of this country to participate in this elitist vision of rescuing the planet via ‘The Green New Deal.’
Anything that anyone thinks, says, writes or tweets these days needs to be qualified, most specifically, with regards to race. You can’t make any sort of societal observation without first examining the racial implications, even if there are no perceived racial implications. Face it; if you espouse any sort of opinion on any sort of humanistic subject, beyond discussing the constituents of the different types of malleable steel of which a cog wheel is comprised, race now enters into the discussion.
I’m white, and was raised in a very white existence, by two white parents, in a very white, very middle-class, middle American suburb. None of our immediate neighbors were people of color, and there were but a very few people of color at my white, suburban, Catholic high school. At the time, we didn’t think much about it, and the two black students in my class at my high school were certainly noticeably black, but they were embraced and regarded no differently than the rest of us; they were equally part of the tribe that were daily being educated and simultaneously oppressed by the pedagogues who carried the banner of St. Ignatius.
Now, on to my working life. Frow the day I got out of college in 1979, until the present day, I have worked in a manufacturing environment – dirty, dusty, hot, humid; the sort of place that OSHA was borne from, and targeted by Upton Sinclair’s book, The Jungle, which opened the eyes of the elitist socialist world to the realities of manufacturing – the part of life of which, while they skinnied their noses at that sort of work, they daily enjoyed the fruits of those ill-bred, lower-class laborers. I’m extremely proud of my career; of where I worked, of what I helped create, and what I did, day in and day out in a less than favorable environment. I helped make products that the world knew very little about, yet unknowably relied upon every day to make their lives sufferable. Yes, even the elitists.
I made goop. I made goop for roofs, and there are very few amongst us who don’t have a roof, yet, they don’t fully appreciate a roof, until of course, they don’t have one. Career-wise, I have been the most least appreciated, least rock-starish person in your life - until the rain starts tumbling down. And then, my craft is the stuff of magicians. When thunder, hailstorms and precipitation storm down upon us, I turn into a minor god. Think about that the next time you evaluate what you do to earn your bread.
Now, back to my working life. My manufacturing plant was located in the Fairfax Industrial District, in north Kansas City, Kansas, on the southern border of the Missouri River; a very short hike from where Lewis and Clark set up camp for a few days before they paddled west on their Voyage of Discovery. Immediately south of the Fairfax District is the ‘Hood’ of Wyandotte County, KS – a 10-square mile area melting pot of very low and lower-middle class homes and ethnic neighborhoods – some white Slavic, but mostly black and brown - that typify what envelopes the manufacturing areas of large, middle American industrialized cities. These are the people that live within walking distance of the steel mills and the paper mills, the stockyards and the slaughterhouses, the refineries and the chemical plants, and yes, the plants that manufacture cog-wheels. For generations, these people were, and still are, the cog-wheels that make this country strong, and make this country great.
I’ve spent the most of my career working with, and depending upon, these workers from the nearby ‘Dot’, the affectionate name for which Wyandotte County, KS is often referred; mostly black men, a few Hispanics, a few transplanted Laotians. Jointly, we built a little business that initially employed five of us, and over a few short years, we grew the place into a 25+ employee business.
I helped them make their past-due child support payments, their late rent and car payments. I bailed them out of jail on a few occasions, and loaned them $40 bucks on a Wednesday to get them through to Friday. And what did they do for me? They worked their butts off, unquestioning, in the heat, in the cold, in the dirt and in the dust, to allow me the wherewithal to live in a fine home in a nice neighborhood, and give my kids an education that would hopefully preclude them from doing what these poor guys had to do to make a living. Hardly seems fair, does it?
So back to energy costs and the racial and social inequities of the Green New Deal. I still consult for my old company, spending 10 -15 hours a week working in the lab on new products. In my current state of semi-retirement, I love it, and don’t tell anyone, but I’d probably do it for free.
My drive home, due to road construction and a detour, takes me west down Parallel Parkway, straight through the heart of the Hood. I drive past houses that at one time were well-to-do, upper class semi-mansions in the ‘30’s and ‘40’s, and are now mostly unkempt monuments to a by-gone affluence . I drive past small one & two bedroom, 800-ish square-foot shacks; probably starter-homes for WWII vets, now, nothing more than the cheapest sort of rental properties that the poorest of poor can afford.
There’s no denying that this area is what is commonly referred to as ‘the ghetto.’ And the fact is, there are ghettos like this in every American city, large and small, urban and rural, black, brown and white. And with extremely few exceptions, never in these areas will you see a new car. I can attest to the fact that none of the plant workers that I employed ever had a new car. Many of them couldn’t afford any car, and if they had a car, they bought it used, and kept it running through grit and determination. Many of them used public transportation. None of them owned their house, they rented. If they could afford air-conditioning, it was a small window unit; most used fans, and simply and quietly dealt with the heat, and used small space heaters to suffer through the winter cold.
I would hazard to guess that a large number of suburban Kansas Citians have never been down Parallel Parkway, or driven through any part of the Wyandotte County Hood. And why would they, as they’ve no real reason to ever be there, unless they work there. You certainly wouldn’t shop there, or eat there, or have friends or family there. Many don’t know this part of the world even exists. This is the same for all aforementioned American cities, large and small, urban and rural, with their hoods. But in spite of the fact that most people haven’t seen them, or ever been through them, they exist, and are a very large part of our population; a reality that doesn’t exist to the people that make the rules for it’s inhabitants.
Here's a reality check for you. None of these American humans, that live paycheck-to-paycheck on a $20/hour salary, or many only subsisting on government assistance, can afford a new electric vehicle. It’s the last thing on this earth for which they’d spend their hard-earned money. That electric vehicle would also involve the installation of a 220-volt charging station in the garage of their 800-sq.ft. rental home; but wait, none of those houses have garages, and, as mentioned previously, most don’t have the money to afford an electric bill that even allows them to cool themselves with chlorofluorocarbons.
No, in reality, what these poor souls are now doing is bearing the brunt of $5.00/gallon gasoline. Are they filling their tanks? Hell no, most didn’t have the cash to fill their tanks when gas was $2.00/gallon. They put in five bucks here, or ten bucks on a Friday after they’ve gotten paid. Now, that five or ten bucks takes them half as far as it did a year ago.
But sure, gas is expensive. It’s part of the transition. If it gets expensive enough, people will more readily accept the transition to electric vehicles. Now, ‘quit yer bitchin’ and go buy a $60,000 Tesla. Are we out of our effing minds expecting that to be reality???
The earth is estimated to be 4.5 billion years old. There has been climate change – from Ice Ages to cataclysmic droughts to volcanic eruptions, to seismic shifts that created the Rocky Mountains, and million-year floods that created the Grand Canyon. Have you seen the Rockies and the Grand Canyon? That’s some pretty damn-big, American-sized climate change. The notion that an immediate shift to electric vehicles (by 2035 they hope, 13 years they say, which in geological time is one-millionth of a hiccup) will alter 4.5 billion years of climatic evolution is, arguably, absurd. But we have to start someplace, and is so often the case with these progressive ideas, let’s do it on the backs of, or without any regard for, the lower class. I truly believe many of the elites that are promoting this don’t know that the lower class even exist. Maybe every once-in-a-while, just for some enlightenment, they should drive home west on Parallel Parkway. If they did, I’d hope they’d have the good sense to start connecting the dots, and realize the pratfalls that will ultimately be part of their grandiose schemes. In the meantime, let these insignificants scrape up enough change to buy a half gallon of gasoline.