A few days ago, The Morehead Minute published an editorial asking a simple question: When did we make ordinary life unaffordable?
Unfortunately, we didn't have to wait very long for another example.
This morning, a friend messaged me from West Liberty with a number that should get everyone's attention:
$4.98 per gallon for gasoline.
He told me that when he was in Morehead last night, prices were approaching the $5-per-gallon mark here as well.
Those are individual reports from local pumps, and prices can vary considerably from station to station. But the larger trend is undeniable.
According to AAA, the average price of regular gasoline across Kentucky today is about $4.00 per gallon.
One year ago, it was $2.83.
Diesel is an even bigger problem.
Kentucky's average diesel price has reached approximately $5.91 per gallon — the highest statewide diesel average AAA has recorded. Nationally, diesel has climbed to approximately $6.23 per gallon.
So here's my question:
When do we say enough is enough?
How much more are ordinary Americans expected to absorb?
Five-dollar gasoline doesn't just hurt when you pull into the filling station.
It follows you home.
The truck delivering groceries to the supermarket runs on fuel. The farmer producing those groceries burns fuel. The construction company building homes burns fuel. The school bus taking children to school burns fuel. Businesses receiving merchandise pay transportation costs that eventually find their way into the price consumers pay.
And then there are our public services.
Police cruisers don't run on good intentions.
Fire engines don't either.
Neither do ambulances.
Many rural police departments, volunteer fire departments and emergency services already operate on budgets where every dollar matters. When gasoline and diesel prices climb dramatically, those agencies don't magically receive more money.
Something eventually has to give.
Maybe money gets shifted from another part of the budget. Maybe equipment purchases get postponed. Maybe training gets delayed. Maybe local governments have to appropriate more taxpayer money.
And if prices remain high enough for long enough, communities could eventually face much harder decisions about routine patrols, non-emergency responses and how limited resources are deployed.
That's not alarmism.
That's arithmetic.
An ambulance that gets six or eight miles to the gallon doesn't care about politics. Neither does a fire truck.
Someone has to buy the fuel.
And ultimately, we do.
Through taxes.
Through higher prices.
Through increased service fees.
Through grocery bills.
Through utility bills.
Through everything else we purchase.
This is exactly what we were talking about a few days ago when we said America has made ordinary life unaffordable.
People aren't asking for luxury.
They're asking to be able to drive to work.
They're asking to buy groceries.
They're asking to heat and cool their homes.
They're asking to raise their children.
They're asking to live a normal life without wondering which bill isn't going to get paid this month.
At some point, Americans have to stop treating every new price increase as something we're simply expected to accept.
Enough is enough.
And saying that doesn't belong to Republicans.
It doesn't belong to Democrats.
It doesn't belong to conservatives or liberals.
A five-dollar gallon of gasoline costs the same whether there's an R, a D or nothing at all beside your name.
Americans have every right to demand answers from the people who represent us — at every level of government.
What is driving these prices?
What can realistically be done about them?
What policies are helping?
What policies are making things worse?
And most importantly, what is the plan?
Those aren't partisan questions.
They're the questions people should be asking when families are watching more and more of their paychecks disappear simply trying to maintain an ordinary standard of living.
"Taking our country back" shouldn't mean turning against one another.
It should mean remembering that elected officials work for the people — not the other way around.
It means calling representatives.
It means showing up at public meetings.
It means demanding transparency.
It means voting.
It means asking hard questions regardless of which political party happens to be in power.
And it means refusing to accept the idea that ordinary Americans should simply keep digging deeper into pockets that are already nearly empty.
Because there eventually comes a point when there isn't anything left to dig for.
For millions of Americans, we may be getting dangerously close to that point.
Five-dollar gasoline. Six-dollar diesel.
Groceries climbing with them.
Transportation costs climbing with them.
Public-service budgets being squeezed by them.
How much more are working Americans supposed to absorb?
Maybe it's time we stopped asking people to simply adjust.
Maybe it's time the people making the decisions started hearing something from the people paying the bills:
Enough is enough.
— The Morehead Minute Editorial Board