I was a hard sell when it came to plastic bags. If given a choice I would always ask for paper. I got over it. I found that I could actually carry more and still unlock the front door. I also didn’t need to fold them to store them for reuse. I found a zillion ways to reuse them. To my knowledge I never threw them away when I came home from the store.
Now they are taking them away from me. Soon they will be taking them away from you. The enlightened electorate of the People’s Republik of Kalifornia have voted to ban free plastic bags in the grocery stores. Now we are given a choice. The first choice is to pay 10 cents for a bag that costs less than a penny and used to included in the price of the groceries. Or if you prefer you can bring your own reusable bag, encrusted with crud, infested with germs and laden with disease, and put it on the counter where my food will pass. How did we get to this? It is a good example of why the founding fathers were leery of big government and double leery of government that was in bed with big business.
It started with a small, vocal group agitating to do away with plastic bags at grocery stores. I think it was environmentalists concerned about plastic not decomposing in a land fill. I understand that rocks don’t decompose in a land fill either but I have not heard about a ban on rocks. They managed to pressure a few city governments into banning plastic bags. From there it went to the county, outside of cities. Now the entire state has gone that way.
You can say it was voted on by the people. It is a good example of why pure democracy does not work. Keep in mind this is the mindless masses of the left coast. Look at the last election. The country as a whole was a dead heat between Hillary and Trump. The People’s Republik went 62/33 for Hillary. That will give you a feel for where our minds are and how different we are from the rest of the country. In the same election the welfare classes of the left coast voted billions of dollars in new debt and legalized marijuana.
Today it was plastic bags that were declared anathema. What will it be tomorrow, plastic bandages? Plastic pens? Republicans? White males?
homo unius libri
The plastic bags were introduced back when, by majority vote, we banned the use of paper bags to "save trees." It didn't matter that no legitimate, naturally grown, giant redwood trees were being destroyed. Trees cut down for paper production, were "crops" grown on tree farms by private farmers. When there was no more demand, the land owners simply produce other crops. It was a stupid ban made emotionally by a stupid majority. And, btw, petroleum products come from natural bases and plastic bags do decompose.
ReplyDeleteOne of my annual questions, often repeated is, "What happens when you cut down trees?" My Answer, "They grow back."
DeleteAs for the "stupid majority", it sounds like an argument for the electoral college.
Grace and peace
Having been to landfills frequently in the past, I can assure you that plastic bags are the LEAST of our problems. For one thing, the chemicals (including oil residues) dumped there are unbelievable.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid I would make the trip to the landfill on a regular basis. My dad had to make me stay in the truck, except to crank the hoist, because I would tend to collect too much junk to take home.
DeleteGrace and peace.
It'll probably be Christians. It would be interesting, though, to try to ban rocks.
ReplyDeleteI think Christians are banned already, even in some churches.
DeleteMaranatha
Grace and peace.