Prius Vanity Plates

I have seen this twice now and thus it needs addressing, so please listen.

Was coming back from climbing Hat Mountain via Hill City and in front of me was a Prius with a Wellstone! bumper stick on it, as well as vanity plates that read "L S GAS." Now I had see this before where another Prius driver had "60 MPG" as his vanity plate (even though they don't get 60 MPG) and it got me thinking as I drove home.

"This is what they pride themselves off of?"

Understand vanity plates are basically a means by which you tell people something about yourself or your beliefs. Presumably it would be something of importance or pride (LUVWIFE) or, or perhaps you come up with very witty vanity plates such as (I have seen before) "TAXESUK."

But what these vanity plates tell me is that these people actually derive pride from getting faux-good gas mileage, and not only pride, but this is arguably the single greatest accomplishment or achievement in their lives;

Good gas mileage/low carbon emissions.

Now this provides a VERY interesting insight to the leftist mind, and I have alluded to this before; leftists (in a very general sense) want to avoid real work, yet are desperate to feel that they are accomplishing something with their lives. Ergo, instead of majoring in engineering, or becoming an accountant or a doctor and actually producing something or worth, they instead go into sociology, philosophy, the arts or whatever worthless "industries" the social sciences provide and instead of producing something of value to society, CHANGE THE DEFINITION OF WHAT IS VALUABLE TO SOCIETY.

Ergo the crusade over the cause.

Bono wants to help stave off poverty in Africa - no he doesn't, he wants the media attention.
Bob Geldorf wants to do the same - no he doesn't, he wants to be loved.
Jesse Jackson wants to eliminate racism - no he doesn't, he would be out of a job.
Hillary Clinton wants to help America - no she doesn't, she wants power.

And your run of the mill leftists that may not have celebrity status of those mentioned above like to join crusades to "end poverty" or "stop global warming."

No they don't. They want to wear an eco-boyscout badge to brag to other people about how good they are when they drive a Prius or drink "fair trade" coffee or buy organic groceries with a reusable bag or vote democrat/socialist.

These actions not only take no effort (or minimal) but they inevitably do nothing for society, nor produce anything of value. The only thing they do is make those that participate feel like they are doing something worthwhile and giving meaning to their lives. ie-it masks just how hollow their lives really are.

Now, admittedly this is a large brush I am stroking with, for as I've said before, I do know leftist computer programmers, I do know right wing government workers, but for those of you who have such little production and economic worth to your lives, that your primary thing you want to tell the world is that you get good gas mileage and emit less carbon than they average guy (until you have to dispose of those Prius batteries, but never mind, I forgot, it was never about the environment anyway), don't you think that before your time on this planet is up you might want to do something that really matters?

Seriously, think about it. When you die and they're reading off your ulogy, what do you want them to say?

"Skyler McFairtradecoffeedrinker was a great man. He only bought organic, fairtrade coffee from small, locally owned coffee stores that gave back to the community 30% of their pre-tax profits. He volunteered his time at the local minimalist-crapo-art museum where he lobbied the government for more taxpayer money for art nobody wanted. He wasn't a rich man, but he was rich in that his footprint was minimal on this planet. He lived in a small house with environmentally friendly insultation and spent only 79% of the US average on heating and air conditioning. He drove a moped and a Prius and emitted 56% less than the average American in carbon emissions."

You get one life on this planet and the greatest accomplishment you achieved is that you went green?

You know some people have families, some get great careers, some start businesses, some become adventurers, some go to the Sturgis rally, some start bars or restaurants, some fight in wars, some (ahem, cough cough) become economists during the day, moonlight as ballroom dance instructors during the nights, author books on their free time and become dashing Indiana Jones like characters on vacation as amateur paleontologists.

But you, on your death bed will look back at the previous 80 years and your greatest accomplishment?

You didn't eat meat. Wow, way to go.

In the meantime, I (and I'm sure all the junior, deputy, aspiring, official or otherwise economists out there) will be spending our lives achieving real things. So that when we die, we will have a smile on our faces in that we didn't waste that one, precious, finite life we had.