The Free Market, price of gas, class warfare or socialism?

[skinsguy]

GTripp and I started an interesting conversation in the Democratic Debate thread, and I think it deserves a thread of it's own per SSG's request.

When we were discussing the aspects of a presidential candidate, I mentioned that I would like to have someone who, in the broad scope of things, look out for everybody and especially the lower income citizens of America. Anyhoo, we had kind of gotten off topic and onto the price of gasoline. Oh, I know why! Because I mentioned I wanted the gas prices to be lowered. 'Tripp said (and I do understand what he's saying from the purely long term financial view of it) that the gas prices should actually be increased. I believe he said to a dollar amount of $6 a gallon and that it should be a fixed amount there.

Certainly, I can agree and disagree with that figure. 20 years from now, $6 a gallon should seem like $2 a gallon. If it's $6 a gallon for the rest of our lives, yeah, eventually everybody could live with that. But, I think when you start looking at the finer details of this, does this become a question of survival of the fittest? Or, survival of the wealthiest? My politics might be considered confusing to most, because I've always voted and felt more conservative, and mostly Republican. However, there is this little Democrat in me (can't believe I'm saying that too) that keeps whispering in my ear "what about those who are middle and lower class citizens? Do we basically kill them off?"

I've had arguments with staunch Libertarians on another forum board over the same or similar issues, and the attitude they had just seem like an elitist attitude toward the topics. The more they argued, the more colder they got toward me. I asked them about the moral ramifications of such a view point, then they went off subject and argued over the proper definition of what is "moral". The picture they painted for me is that America would be a better place with basically a handful of the richest people in the land. Everything had a price and everything was privately owned. If you couldn't afford it, you basically died, unless the church helped you out. Then they argued over taxing the church the same as any other "business" (and I won't go down that road of topic.) At the end of the day, when there was nothing else to argue, the free market would fix everything!

Anyways, with all of that said, my point is, should we kill off those who have lower to middle class salaries that are trying to "make it" in this country? We have to remember, not all areas in VA or any other state are paying college grads $40k - $70k straight out of college. Some areas (like mine) figure a decent salary is in the $30k range. However, when it comes to living expenses such as gasoline, the slightest increase sets a person way back. We have to remember, it's not just the rising price of gas we put in our vehicles, but it's the rising cost of fuel that people use to heat their homes. In my opinion, while the purely marketing view of it makes sense to increase the price of gas and then cap the cost, from a current ethical stand point, it further alienates the more civilized ares (larger cities) from the rural areas (small towns, farm towns, etc...)

I guess I'm a little more sensitive to it, because I've grown up and currently live in a rural town. Even college grads like myself aren't making enough to live comfortably. Well, I might be, but that is just because I'm single and living in a small cottage home currently. If I had a wife and kids, we would be struggling, unless she was a doctor or lawyer. I realize the other solution is to move, but that still doesn't solve the problems that rural America faces.

Anyways, sorry I've rambled on this topic. As you can tell, I'm probably a confused Republican who's having an identity crisis. Either that, or I'm just wanting an extreme make over of the USA.