French riots show a population pushed too far
I think we should be looking at the “yellow vest” protests in France very closely.
From what I can understand, the yellow vests are a group of protestors who engaged in destructive behavior to voice their disapproval for a gas tax since November. While I don’t personally condone violence to justify my goals, I think their drive to fight an egregious and unfair tax is refreshing to see.
And you know what? France’s President Emmanuel Macron called off the tax hike.
According to Bloomberg, gasoline was supposed to rise by 2.9 cents per liter and 6.5 cents per liter of diesel. That might not seem like much of an increase, but the prices when converted to American dollars and gallons, it matters significantly.
In American dollars, French citizens pay about $5.56 per gallon of gasoline and $5.11 per gallon of diesel. That would mean the tax would increase prices to almost $5.67 and nearly $5.36 per gallon of diesel.
The reasoning for these price increases? To encourage the people of France to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels. And this is after previous tax bumps. An insurrection was inevitable.
I think the French people were justified in protesting this tax increase. It’s a clear sign the government was aloof and uncaring to the concerns of its people. Especially considering the yellow vests were partly comprised of rural citizens, those who would ostensibly be affected by it the most.
What the Macron administration is essentially doing to the French people is taxing them to the point where they have to get more fuel efficient cars, or stop driving altogether. But if gas prices keep getting higher, wouldn’t they eventually get to a point where the fuel efficient cars wouldn’t matter?
At the J-T, I have a coworker who travels one hour to work as his commute. And a year ago, when I lived in Delaware but worked here, I had about a half hour commute. I can only imagine how much we’d have to pay for gasoline every day if we were burdened by such a ridiculous tax hike, not to mention everyone else who doesn’t live in the city and have long commutes. I’m sure it would hurt a lot of the folks who make long commutes to work at Honda every day.
It’s a burden on the rural folk of France, or to anyone who has a long commute to work. It’s a soft way of making sure they can’t feed their families.
And how does the media interpret this? I’ve seen a few outlets wonder why the people would be against protecting the environment. I’m not the kind of person who wants to see the environment destroyed, but it’s not ethical to punish people into submission, to where they are unable to get to work or feed their families.
When the British raised taxes in America in the 1700s, we fought back. That made me wonder: What would we do today if our government was pricing us out of existence?
I have a grim feeling that we wouldn’t fight such a tax, and we would simply accept it. We’d be too buried in our indulgences to want to fight back against something.
We can learn a lesson or two from the yellow vests (but not the violence part).
-Jacob Runnels is a reporter for the Journal-Tribune.