[WS:] An interesting sub-plot of this story is the class division in the gas price debate: working class opposes price increases, the "yuppie class" does not. It is, in a sense, history repeating itself - this time as a farce. First time, there were the Luddities who fought to turn back the clock, this time it is blue collar and rural populations.
The reactionary attitudes of the lower classes is nothing new, of course. However, they create a paradox for the Left, who see the lower socio-economic classes as the harbinger of social progress. The "old" Left solved that paradox by the concept of the "vanguard party" acting as a saviour of the working class against its own backwardness.
I am not quite sure how the "new" Left will go on this. Will they embrace the latter-day populist Luddism (the direction that Jordan & James seemt o be going) and end up in bed with oil companies and developers? Or will they choose a progressive solution, and side with environmentalists and "yuppies"?
Wojtek