Marin County, north across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco, is home to a very specific type of powerful liberal — the wealthy one. We will define wealth here as any group at least 30 rungs above poverty, where the West Virginian middle class would rank, say 6 rungs above poverty.
Wealthy liberals in bedroomy Marin County are getting bitchy about proposed hikes in the toll they have to pay when they cross the GGB to enter San Francisco, either for work or pleasure. Mostly for work.
Matt Smith of — who knew? — SF Weekly, an entertainment and what’s-hot-now rag, takes “limousine liberals” to task for a behavior I identified in my Why Leave America post.
The deplorable delusion most Americans hold that corporate entities “interested” in the green movement replace their need to actively take charge of ecological conservation.
Smith’s eloquent position is that if you choose to live in a bedroom community and you profit from the use of highways that encourage green-offensive behavior — like driving an SUV many miles to go to your job — you should pony up and contribute to the environmental movement instead of bitching and moaning about your expenses/grief/inconveniences.
But that’s not the America in which we live. The government will pass pork coin down through the system and roads will get fixed and tolls will remain the same and you get to suck on your pathetic little latte while talking on the phone in gridlock traffic all the way from Corte Madera (home of the upscale mall). Oh, and you can feel good about using recycled bags at Whole Foods and the demise of the plastic bag and fall into utter inertness because PG&E, Chevron, Mobil, and Chrysler have assured you they are all over the pollution problem. You know they are, because you saw it on a billboard. While driving to work.