Fat Pigs Park for Free at the Airport

In George Orwell's Animal Farm, Old Major, the ideological father of the revolution against the Farmer, tries to bring a more authentic, collective society to the farm by creating an ideal path that supposidly stands in stark contrast to the farm's previous oppressor:

"Your resolution must never falter. No argument must lead you astray. Never listen when they tell you that Man and the animals have a common interest....we must not come to resemble him...No animal must ever live in a house or sleep in a bed, or wear clothes, or drink alcohol, or smoke tobacco, or touch money, or engage in trade."

After the successful revolution, the those who preached the ideals of justice, equality and fraternity, which were used as a means to gain power, were then engaged in a power struggle where their rule was threatened. Squeeler, speaking of Napolean (the allegorical depiction brutal tyrant Stalin) says this:

"Do not imagine, comrades, that leadership is a pleasure. On the contrary, it is a deep and heavy responsibility. No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?"

As Napoleon engaged in a strict information campaign geared towards the elimination of those labled "enemies of the farm" (read, enemies of him), he also found the original ideals that the Animal Farm were based upon were flexible not only to help secure, but also to provide him with the excess to live like a King:

The Seven Commandments, Animal Farm's original Constitution

1. Whatever goes on two legs is an enemy.
2. Whatever goes on four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
3. No animal shall wear clothes.
4. No animal shall sleep in a bed.
5. No animal shall drink alcohol.
6. No animal shall kill any other animal.
7. All animals are equal.

The Commandments, after the pigs' revisions
1. "Four legs good, two legs better!"
2. No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets.
3. No animal shall drink alcohol to excess.
4. No animal shall kill any other animal without cause.
5. All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.

By the end of the story, our leader of the people who rode in on such lofty ideals was sleeping in a bed, drinking like a fish, walking on two legs and stopped pretending he was running a socialist state. After all the blood spilled, the Animal Farm ended with this:

"No question now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which."

The fundamental lack of understanding of human nature is at the center of those who support the measure of "equality of results." Regardless of their intentions, an individual, or a collective elite, will rise to the top and will consolidate power by herding the sheep into line. This will be done by always referring to the greater good and to the justice and equality of all. Of course implicit in this is that those in "leadership" will continue to make all the hard decisions for us. The tighter the control on the subjected population, the greater the excesses taken at the top.

Application: Leaders in San Francisco have long lauded the roll of collectivism as an ideal. Their "concern" for the gaps between the rich and the poor have led to many state-controlled ideals--such as rent control, banning of chain businesses, redistribution of tax dollars to the homeless, etc. This has all been done under the guise of "sacrifice for the greater good." While in no way do I think that any of our elected leaders are in the same class as Napoleon, they do display the inherent hypocrisy that comes from those that always demand "sacrifice for the greater good": the responsibility will fall on the shoulders of population, and not on the leadership who demands it.

Case in point, today the San Francisco Chronicle has revealed the perks that our elected officials and "common-man" leadership enjoy at the SFO Airport:

It sure pays to have friends on the San Francisco Airport Commission -- judging by the 169 politicians, business people, labor leaders, commissioners' relatives and society types blessed with "courtesy'' airport parking permits.

....Plus, there's a big labor contingent -- most notably California Labor Federation chief Art Pulaski and his wife, Service Employees International Union local boss Josie Mooney.

The free-parking list also includes Bay Area Reps. Nancy Pelosi, George Miller, Lynn Woolsey, Tom Lantos and Pete Stark, plus an assortment of state legislators, San Mateo County officials, and various San Francisco department heads, and commissioners and top-level mayoral aides.

Everyone on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors has a permit except president Aaron Peskin, who said, "I don't feel it's appropriate.''

Even Oakland bigwigs get in on the act -- namely, City Council members Ignacio De La Fuente, Larry Reid, Desley Brooks and Henry Chang. All have free parking privileges in San Francisco to go along with the passes they have at the Oakland airport.

Providing VIPs with free parking privileges is hardly new, and it's never been without controversy. In the early 1990s, it was off the charts at SFO, with more than 5,000 passes reportedly in circulation.

That number was reduced to a mere 300 by 1999. Then came a scathing civil grand jury report that said the permits amounted to perks for an "old boy's network.''

The grand jury suggested the parking passes be eliminated altogether, calling them "elitist-style benefits to a few, who are chosen in a manner that suggests favoritism.''

The purpose of illustrating Animal Farm in regards to this story is not to demonstrate how we are sliding down the slippery slope to a Stalin-esque society in San Francisco--it is to demonstrate that human impulses often overrule the orginal ideals set out towards the goal of any type of societal collectivisation.

In other words, Tom Ammiano demands that you to sacrifice your business to provide for a collective health-care benefit that will put you out of business, but he'll be the first in line to skirt out of paying for parking at the airport. As there is nothing illegal about this proposition, it isn't exactly demonstrating the behavior of a man that understands the plight and sacrifice of the common man.

These elected officials, carrying their allegorical heft who are supposed to be our public servants, will grab a free-lunch whenever they can, and hope that you'll pay the bill for it.

Posted by 10 fingers 6 strings at January 9, 2006 12:33 PM | TrackBack