Portrait of People Just Not Getting It

My country seems to be full of ... idiots. I hate to say it, but how else can one interpret the situation?

I mean, we read that Liberal leader Stephane Dion has actually shown leadership by calling for a carbon tax, and people treat it as though he's proposed monthly public sacrifices of randomly-chosen maidens to Baal.

Part of the problem has been the media spin on this, starting with mis-calling this a "tax." Using that word makes it sound as though he's going to add to the mountain of taxes people pay on fuel already, which he ain't.

So as a public surface let's go through this again for the slow of thinking (none of them will read this, because while they can work a computer well enough to post semi-literate comments at CTV, I strongly doubt any of them is interested in reading past their outrage).

1) Stephane Dion is not proposing anything that will make gas prices rise at any greater rate than they are currently.

2) In fact he's simply proposing to reallocate tax monies that are already included in the price of gas.

3) Furthermore, he's going to drop income taxes. That's right--you'll be paying for cleaner air and still getting more money into your pocket.

This message brought to you by Metro, who's sick and tired of reading the "I got mine, buddy. Hands off!" comments on this article.

For the record: If he follows through on this promise and doesn't manage to screw up too terribly, I'll vote for him. But good god he's gotta improve his PR.