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Okay, I know I'll probably get some serious flameing over this, but here goes!
I'm getting seriously fed up with the number of posts on this site complaining about some fairly important issues such as immigration &, more critical from our point of view, proposed carbon taxes & how they might apply to personal choices whether it's driving a Surf or taking a budget flight. I'm not going to bang on about immigration or the war in Iraq as everyone has different views & we are all entitled to our own opinions. I do, however, have very strong opnions on the often discussed subject of tax on alternative fuels. On a recent thread (Roll up, roll up), I commented on the influence the Ramblers Association have & suggested that we might take some lessons from them. I wonder how many members of this site would be interested in actually trying to put pressure on our glorious leaders & attempting to influence policy. Are there people out there willing to put their money where there mouth is & expend a bit of time & effort in trying raise public awareness or are we just happy to write messages & complain. If I were to write an open letter complaining about tax on green fuels, how many would make the effort to print it off, look up the name & address of their local MP & post copies to them along with copies to David Milliband & Douglas Alexander? How many would be willing to post copies to similar interest groups (Shogun/Pajero, Landies etc.). Alternativly, how many would sit on their backsides & just continue to moan? How many of us would be willing to give up the time to go to our local MP's surgery (they hold them regularly, you know) & meet them face to face & ask the question & keep going back 'till you get a reasonable answer & not be happy with a fob-off?
There must be a reasonable number of members on this site with the ability to pick up pen & paper & write to your local newspaper. Let's face it, the issue is in the news, any letter on the subject provided it's reasonably written will probably get published.
We all have the right & the ability to make our opinions known, the anti 4x4 brigade have been doing it for ages, surely we can at least attempt to fight back. We DO have a sound environmental argument but we are not scoring the points that we should. The bottom line is that if we don't want to become victims, we need to fight back & need to do it now.
I could probably go on for a long time on this, but I guess I'm probably saying that I invite opinions, or, more bluntly, put up or shut up!
I'm getting seriously fed up with the number of posts on this site complaining about some fairly important issues such as immigration &, more critical from our point of view, proposed carbon taxes & how they might apply to personal choices whether it's driving a Surf or taking a budget flight. I'm not going to bang on about immigration or the war in Iraq as everyone has different views & we are all entitled to our own opinions. I do, however, have very strong opnions on the often discussed subject of tax on alternative fuels. On a recent thread (Roll up, roll up), I commented on the influence the Ramblers Association have & suggested that we might take some lessons from them. I wonder how many members of this site would be interested in actually trying to put pressure on our glorious leaders & attempting to influence policy. Are there people out there willing to put their money where there mouth is & expend a bit of time & effort in trying raise public awareness or are we just happy to write messages & complain. If I were to write an open letter complaining about tax on green fuels, how many would make the effort to print it off, look up the name & address of their local MP & post copies to them along with copies to David Milliband & Douglas Alexander? How many would be willing to post copies to similar interest groups (Shogun/Pajero, Landies etc.). Alternativly, how many would sit on their backsides & just continue to moan? How many of us would be willing to give up the time to go to our local MP's surgery (they hold them regularly, you know) & meet them face to face & ask the question & keep going back 'till you get a reasonable answer & not be happy with a fob-off?
There must be a reasonable number of members on this site with the ability to pick up pen & paper & write to your local newspaper. Let's face it, the issue is in the news, any letter on the subject provided it's reasonably written will probably get published.
We all have the right & the ability to make our opinions known, the anti 4x4 brigade have been doing it for ages, surely we can at least attempt to fight back. We DO have a sound environmental argument but we are not scoring the points that we should. The bottom line is that if we don't want to become victims, we need to fight back & need to do it now.
I could probably go on for a long time on this, but I guess I'm probably saying that I invite opinions, or, more bluntly, put up or shut up!
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