I know this'll probably piss a few of you off,

But isn't this whole $3 per gallon thing really going to be good in the end? I mean, if it lasts long enough we might actually start doing the public transportation thing more seriously, maybe put some money into infrastructure (like raillines, subways, ferrys, whatever) and we might also start doing things like riding our bikes to work, or even walking. Imagine the wonder of people working near where they live, walking to the grocery store, buying the milk at the corner market instead of at the Costco 30 miles away.

What if our cities came to have real communities again? What if we didn't drive three hours each day to work? With e-business we don't all really need to be in the same place for a whole lot of stuff. A lot of jobs could be done from home, or perhaps at small satellite offices in various suburbs.

Imagine the possibilities! Imagine the soccer mom walking her kid to soccer practice and the two of them carrying home the groceries afterwards. Imagine how much healthier America would be, without all the drive-thrus and the sitting in traffic all day. Imagine the car being a special trip to Grandma's sort of thing. Imagine not having to worry about parking, gas, oil changes, accidents, idiots cutting you off on the freeway, etc.

I know that the gas prices are slightly screwing a lot of Americans, and seriously screwing the working poor (check out a story from this morning on NPR), and that's definitely not okay with me. But it's also at least irritating the upper middle class guys with five different SUVs for everyday of the workweek, who drive 75 miles from Coto de Caza to their office in downtown LA, in which they spend most of the day talking about raquetball with their equally disgusting coworkers. And they don't like to be irritated, they like to be massaged...

So maybe if even those guys decide to cut back on the gas consumption, and to leave their SUVs at home and take the train to downtown, and they realize how shitty the PubTrans is... maybe then we can get the majority of people to be willing to pay for a real subway in LA, one that is clean and safe and runs all the time. One that would connect LA to the OC and the Valley. Or maybe they'll finally connect San Jose and Livermore (or even Tracy) to BART in SF. Or maybe Bush and Howard Dean will hold hands and pick daisies while singing "We Shall Overcome."

Alright, I know my fantasy is impossible. And will never come true. And I'm sure I'm not thinking of some really horrible reprocussions of all of this happening.

But, I can dream, man... I can still dream...