Running On Fumes

The other day I was driving home from work when I had to stop behind someone at a red light, specifically a red left-hand arrow. While contemplating the boneheaded series of crashes that must have occurred at this intersection to prompt the installation of such an annoying light, the person in front of me decided to ignore it completely and bolted into a left turn. Being an unrepentant thinker, I reflected on what this jerk's behavior and the growing trend of automotive insouciance must signify, since I see it more than I ever did when I was younger. Granted, people in South Florida have long since driven as if returning from a lobotomy, but lately they drive as if auditioning for a part in the Road Warrior. What could explain the growing phenomena of running red lights; cutting people off; tailgating; blockading merging traffic; and fleeing the scene of an accident, even if someone is injured or killed?

It didn't take long to arrive at a plausible explanation: modern Americans are less willing and able than ever to restrain their passions. Come to think of it, "passion" is one of the few remaining things that Americans actually worship, as revealed in just about any television show or movie that Hollywood palms off as entertainment these days. Every character who displays self-control, sobriety, or consistent standards must endure merciless ridicule and punishment until he or she sheds those priggish qualities and joins the egoistic romp of modern American life. If the character refuses to change, then he or she is undoubtedly a villain. This cultural dynamic -- which is especially powerful in South Florida -- has an irresistible corrosive effect on all societal institutions, and the chaos on the roads is congruent to the chaos in the political system.

As the ancient Greeks properly understood, "passion" is a form of "passiveness," a surrender of the mind to one's blind impulses. One of America's Founding Fathers, Edmund Burke, accurately observed:

Society cannot exist unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere, and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.

Americans now esteem "passion" far above reason or restraint, so it's no surprise that government is stepping in to fill the void. The vehicle that our ancestors gave us is running on fumes.