Collectivism and Cruise Control

SURGEON GENERAL'S WARNING: This Post is different.  It is somewhat dry and does not have much to do with the Writer's life, experiences, or thoughts.  If that's what you (the Consumer) are expecting, please proceed with caution.  The Writer of this Blog would hate to loose a reader because of this Post.  This Post may be due to a lack of required writing this semester by the Writer.  The Writer sends his apologies in advance.

(The whole life, experiences, and thoughts is a lie but everything else is true about that warning.  Be ye warned.)


I recently visited the wonderful city of Bloomington, yesterday and today, and realized, just like every time I go up there, that there is no good way, i.e. interstate, major hwy, to get to the town that lays claim to the university named after the state.  On my return trip earlier today it dawned on me: they're planning on sending I-69 up past B-town on the way to Indy from Evansville.  Then I passed a sign that really made me think.  (Luckily, it was early in the trip so I had some time to mull over the situation and what I was going to write in this blog.)  The sign, which happened to be in front of a church if I remember correctly, said something along the lines of stop zoning and I-69.  I'm not trying to bash anyone, just going to provide some points (and take a stance) concerning this sign, partly because I have nothing else to write about and party because I'm not going to have to live with the fact that I wasted 2 good hours of thinking time over a dumb sign.

This sign, along with the MANY abortion signs promoted by churches, dotted the roadside all the way from the start of highway 57 until I got to Bloomington yesterday.  I have no problem with speaking your mind, it's a free country and that's exactly what I'm doing right now, and I'm not even going to tread anywhere near the whole abortion issue, but what is the problem with I-69 other than people are being selfish?  There are a few major advantages and disadvantages to the road being built.  I'm not gonna try to go into all of them because this would be an excellent essay if I would, and I'm going to weigh in heavily on the advantages and probably just mention the disadvantages.


Advantages:
The road would provide a much simpler passage from Evansville to Bloomington, and further on to Indianapolis.  The way to Indy's not that bad but those stoplights on 41 do get pretty annoying.  That's not my experience to be discussed though.  With I-69 going from Evansville through Bloomington to Indy, the trip from the southern part of the state to IU would be much easier for all the students who attend school there.  (And the ones that just go up to party on the weekends.)  Some of the smaller highways that must be traveled to get to IU from Evansville can get pretty nasty in the winter months.  Not to mention that if you aren't familiar with the roads, driving them at night can be kind of treacherous depending on which route you take.  Enough about that; you get the picture.  (Yes, a semi-colon was just used, correctly I might add, in my blog: deal with it.)

The other thing about the roads is that they are all two lanes.  It is impossible to use cruise control for extended periods of time on a two lane road.  Unless you are traveling in the middle of the night or EXTREMELY early in the morning, it's inevitable that you will get stuck behind someone not going as fast as you would like to.  This is where the issue lies.  The person you are following is, along with going slow, not using their cruise control.  You may fly up on them and be up their tail pipe before you know it if you're driving 60 (a reasonable speed on some of the roads to and from IU) and the next minute, after you've adjusted to their speed, a considerable gap has opened between you and the Envoy in front of you.  I'm not saying everyone who drives an Envoy doesn't use their cruise, but I've never come upon a coal or dump truck that can't keep a consistent speed.  That's why they put cruise control on vehicles.  It saves gas and makes sure you're paying attention to the road.  It requires you to be forward looking on the road instead of reacting last second to everything that's happening to you.  You might be saying to yourself, "But Matt, what about that whole 'Highway Hypnosis' thing where you get tired on the highway?"  I don't buy it.  And caffeine works wonders.

Oh yea.  It's also creating jobs in a somewhat down economy.


Disadvantages:
Some people are going to have to move.  Yes, the road will require some people to move their residence, I understand that.  But this country has been brought up thinking, "Me, me, me first!" and that could be tagged as our biggest downfall a lot of the time.  We only want what will be best, or least hurtful, for us.  If we had more of a collective view of our society, maybe more people would be able to use their cruise control on the way to Bloomington and save gas and lives.  Just saying.

It may also be bad for the small towns along the roads leading to the B-nasty.  To that I say maybe.  Sure you get to see some of the smaller sides of Indiana on the way from Evansville to IU, but that's not the reason anyone traveling to Bloomington is, well, traveling to Bloomington.  I think you get the picture here.  A faster route to IU isn't going to keep the people who want to see Small Midwest Town, Indiana (a.k.a. Elnora, Indiana home of Michael Callison and the White River Valley Antique Association Show) from stopping to smell the ripe cow dung.


I obviously didn't exhaust either list or go into extreme detail and research each idea.  ...  ... ...  I had a really good closing to this, but now I've gone and forgotten it.  If I remember I will come back and post it.  If you really care to see it, it'll be here if it ever gets here, no worries.

EDIT: (Here's the big finish I was planning.  The title helped me with it.)

The United States as a country is a very Individualistic society compared to just about every one else.  Like I said earlier, we just want "me, me, me" when we should be saying "us, us, us."  And that's not to say that people with the same views, i.e. I-69 shouldn't be built because I'd have to move, should band together and chant "Think about us!  What WE want!"  That's still essentially the whole me thing.  You're getting the benefit, not the majority of people involved in whatever does end up happening.  Think about that the next time you go to vote.  Ask yourself, is this guy going to help "me," or is this guy going to help "U.S."

END EDIT

Ok, so other than the signs I saw, I had an excellent time seeing a dead IU campus and spending some quality time with the great Laura Ferguson.  Wish I had more time to visit up there and see all the people who go there, but with my schedule, there's no way.  I do get to go back for a couple of indoor track meets though.  Getting pumped and putting in some good training for that season!

Hope I didn't lose too many readers with this post.  God knows that I need to hang on to every one of you I can get.

Till next time, get lots of rest and drink plenty of fluids.