What It Truly Means To Be A Professional Cab Driver

 Simplicity is Not the Cabbie's Reality

The biggest mistake, and major erroneous miscalculation behind the rise of app ride companies like Uber and Lyft, was a general misunderstanding and non-recognition of the skill and professional expertise it takes to successfully transport passengers from A to B.  The story goes that Uber's founders could not get easily get a cab one night, placing the blame upon drivers when in reality any cabbie would have been more than happy to have picked them up.  Their ire was misplaced, for in San Francisco and other American cities, the onus for bad service lay with a screwed-up government bureaucracy incapable of regulating an industry they didn't understand.  

For instance, we in the Seattle taxi industry begged the City and County to release more medallions, a plea for more cabs on the streets ignored minus plausible explanation as to why. This kind of response typified what was usual across the country: a regulatory bureaucracy tone-deaf to the taxi industry needs.  And when did the City of Seattle release additional medallions, including one to me?  Only after there were 28,000 Uber drivers working Seattle and King County streets.  Too little, too late as the saying goes.  And nonsensical. 

Currently in NYC, over 75,000 cabs are in danger of losing their insurance coverage because of a failure in oversight over the prime insurer of all those cabs.  There is no excuse, with reality saying regardless of the reason, this kind of snafu should never happen.  It certainly is not the individual cabbie's fault. They made and keep making their monthly insurance payments.  No one can blame them for an insurer's insolvency. 

But getting back to that night when Travis Kalanick and his friend vilified the ever  hardworking cabbie, its clear that they just didn't know what they were talking about.  Given my over 35 years driving a cab, I and my cabbie kinsman around the world know exactly what it means to give our sweat, blood and dedication to getting the sometimes dumbbell passenger to where they are going.  

Just this past January 3rd, 2025, at about 3:30 in the morning, I personally witnessed the kind of professionalism proving the worth of the veteran cabdriver.  They are not replaceable.  They are indispensable.  And in many cities around the world, like at the Guadalajara, Mexico airport, taxis are the rule and not the exception. At about 2:30 AM "she-who-can't-be-named" and I needed a cab to Ajijic/San Antonio and our Airbnb townhouse.  We were lucky.  We met a professional. 

In the Early Morning Hours

Believe me, it is never advisable to arrive at an unknown destination late at night or early in the morning but sometimes, given flight schedules, it is unavoidable.  In Bucharest, Romania in 2011, I arrived late.  In late October 2023, after late night and early morning flight arrivals in both Sofia, Bulgaria and Tbilisi, Georgia, professional taxi drivers, as I experienced in Bucharest, brought me to where I would have never found on my own.  That early morning in Guadalajara we had some vague idea of where we were going but we needed a ride, we needed help and thankfully the TAXI GODS provided us with a professional.  We certainly required one.

The distance to Ajijic/San Antonio is more or less 30 miles, the rate to where we were going about $29.00 or 575 pesos.  We stood in a long line queuing up for the taxis who at that moment were inundated by many connective flight arrivals.  Everyone, including many parents with young children, patiently waited for returning cabs to pick all of us up.  Finally, a gentleman in his early fifties motioned us to his cab.  We were off.

This was my second season here, and her third but this time our destination was the smaller village of San Antonio, making our journey a bit trickier.  Complicating everything was our arriving late on different flights, she from Oakland, California, me from Phoenix, Arizona.  First we had difficulty finding each other, then hungry and tired, and somewhat cranky, we got into the cab. 

Our driver, a pleasant, quiet gentleman, was a veteran of twenty-five years Guadalajara taxi.  He knew what he was doing and and where he was going.  Unfortunately, my usually extremely organized SUPER CAPRICORN  companion got our address numbers on Ramon Corona a bit jumbled.  We first found ourselves looking for 8B Ramon Corona when it was actually 14 Ramon Corona we needed to find.  8B was our home address inside a gated community.  

Our cabbie was extremely patient while we figured it out, a circumstance I also knew well, having searched for difficult to find addresses in the dark countless times.  The cabbie was wonderful, never growling or displaying any frustration with these dumbbell gringos.  Once we realized what real street address we needed, we quickly found our destination.  I gave him a ten dollar tip, which is 200 pesos but I should have given him 20 dollars for all his trouble.  Early during our ride I had identified myself as a fellow veteran brother of the toplight, so we both fully understood the situation.  

He was great and was the clear definition of what it means to be a professional cabbie, someone essential to tired and lost tourists seeking their sunny Mexican abode.  Never a complaining word.  Never a snarl though we warranted one.  He handled everything exactly how it is supposed to be done, being extremely helpful while exhibiting the patience of a saint, the toplight a kind of taxi halo.  

It brought to my mind a ride of a few years back where I had to get my blind passenger to her apartment in this very large complex located in Rainier Valley.  The trick for me was finding the right entrance out of too many doors to choose from.  It took me a good half hour to find the correct one.  It was hellish but there was nothing to be done but to keep searching until I found it.  My passenger helped as well as she could but being sightless she caused more confusion than anything helpful.  

As I will always say, welcome to taxi as it really is.  Uber and Lyft will never be able to match the inherent professionalism that is the tried and true veteran cabbie.  It isn't possible which is why, in many parts of the world, taxi will never be replaced, cabs a permanent fixture in the transportation landscape.  Hurrah for taxi! Hurrah!  

And always remember, tip that cabbie well.  He/she deserves it.  My last big tip driving cab was $100.00.  "Are you sure," I asked.  Yes," he said, "you deserve it."  I wasn't convinced but I took that Ben Franklin and was happy for it.  Sometimes you're stiffed and sometimes you're over tipped.  Just like taxi.  Just like how it is.

Taxi Driver Memory and the Hippocampus: It Might be Preventing all of Us from Dying from Alzheimer's 

A taxi buddy sent me a link containing a talk about how it appears that us cabbies, because of the enlarged hippocampus part of our brain, are far less likely to die from Alzheimer's disease than any other sector of the USA population save ambulance drivers.  What cabbies share with them is the necessity to know the streets, hence the big hippocampus and its ability to hold directional information.  What I found sadly humorous is most cabbies were dying before age 70 from many causes other than Alzheimer's.  That I am now 71 means I am operating on "free money.'  I can live it up!  

Of course, the London cabbie's ability to know every damn street of that sprawling city and metro area is known as "the Knowledge."  As I wrote back to my friend, I more or less have the "Seattle Knowledge."  When passengers got snotty about my routing, or wanted to essentially take over, I asked them this very deadly question of, okay, you think you are so much smarter than I am, now tell me "Where is Peach Court East?"  

Of all the multiple dumbbells I posed this question to, only one knew that it is off of East Crescent, near 22nd East, on the north side of Capital Hill.  I usually only asked this question after becoming throughly irritated with the idiotic passenger.  

Now a PHD question for all you veteran Seattle cabbies out there.  If I got into your cab at King Street Station and said, "Take me to the intersection of NW Culbertson Drive and Sherwood Road NW?" would you be able to get us there minus GPS routing? I would be surprised if you could because this corner is more obscure than any address found in the Blue Ridge neighborhood bordering the Puget Sound or the westside of Queen Anne Hill. The big hint is that it is in Broadview, west of 3rd Avenue NW. When heading north on 3rd NW and you've come to my favorite small park in all of Seattle, Llandover Woods, you have gone too far, close but no cigar. 

The only cabbie I think who would have known was my late friend, Stacy Anderson, whom I dubbed the "Taxi King."  The guy had the "Seattle Knowledge," the "King County Knowledge," and  both the "Pierce and Snohomish Counties Knowledge."  And I would be amiss if I failed to mention the "City of Portland, Oregon Knowledge."  It is probably true I was a better money maker than Stacy, something he actually somewhat reluctantly acknowledged but when it came to knowing the streets, I was a trifle mouse compared to Stacy's elephant.  He was incredible.  There was no one else like him in Seattle's taxi industry.  More than King, he was Emperor.

All this is a lead up to an excerpt taken from the Jan 19th, 2025 edition of the New York Time's "Metropolitan Diary."  It is a great example of the cabbie memory, and a fun story to boot.  

Familiar Feeling

Dear Diary,

I started traveling to New York City from my hometown, Toronto, in the early 2000s.  I would visit once or twice a year, usually with my children. As they have gotten older, I've been making my annual trip solo.

On my most recent trip, in November 2024, I stayed near Lincoln Center. When it was time to leave, the hotel doorman hailed me a taxi to me to the airport.

After I got into the cab, the driver and I began chatting about the delicious smelling rice and oxtail stew his wife has just dropped off for him. He told me we had spoken previously about Indian and Senegalese food.  I must have looked confused because he then claimed that he knew me.

I had not been to New York in a year and was incredulous that this man could possibly remembered a random conversation with a passenger from 12 months ago.

Then, suddenly, I remembered him too.  He had told me the last time we spoke that he was sending one of his teenage children to live with his parents for a while so they could get to know one another.

He explained this time the child was back home and that all had gone well.

After getting out of the cab at the airport, I turned back to him.

"Thank you," I said. "See you next year!"

Patricia O'Connell

_______________________________________________

Nice story.  In Seattle over the years I had many random repeat passengers but more than usual, it was the passenger remembering me.  For all the many reasons good and bad I stood out from the usual taxi herd.  Someone in my life affectionately calls me "donkey."  Maybe I am remembered for my braying.

You Tell Them, Mister Priestley!

The following quote is taken from an essay/lecture "What About the Audience," concerning the future of live theatre in the United Kingdom, cira 1961.  It can be found in a collection of JB Priestley essays published in 1966, "The Moments and other Pieces."  How this applies to taxi and taxi regulators and regulation is how Priestley is concerned about the adverse affects of television upon live stage drama, and how it could disappear.  

Where this applies to taxi is twofold.  The first issue is having regulators devoid of ever having driven a taxi.  I have written this elsewhere but how can you assist and regulate an industry and task you know nothing about?  And secondly, because of this lack of real knowledge and expertise, it opened the floodgates to Uber and Lyft, effectively dealing the American taxicab a near deadly if not completely fatal blow.  While the most of the regulators were great people, they just didn't have the background to know everyday taxi reality.  And even when told, which I sometimes did, that they didn't know, did it change anything?   

And what about the British stage, what has happened to it since 1961?   That I can't tell but what is true is that in the USA, there is more television programming than ever but again, I can't comment on the quality since I have barely watched the medium since 1987.  I read books instead. How old fashioned!   Here is Priestley. The quote is from pages 259 and 260.  While reading this, keep in mind the context of taxi and you will see how this relates to our diminished craft of driving crazed humans to home and hospital. 

"The truth is, so long as drama is presented, in no matter what form, the Theatre remains central, the enduring core. Though writing, direction, acting, may have to be adjusted to the new media, as indeed we know, the Theatre is still at the heart of the whole matter.  Take it away and you would see a rapid deterioration in film and television drama.  We hear people say that so long as they have television sets and can pay an occasional visit to the cinema, it does not matter to them if there if there is not a single stage left in England.  But if these people expect dramatic entertainment from their screens, then they should realize that although they do nothing for the Theatre, the Theatre has already done a great deal for them. It is in the playhouse, and nowhere else, that performers come together, and writers, directors, actors, are severely tested, learning if they are wise what is essential in the presentation of drama.  I have declared before now that if I were responsible for a large film studio or a television network, and I knew that the Theatre was in danger of disappearing, I would feel it was my duty to subsidize or altogether maintain a playhouse, so that my writers, directors, actors, could face the challenge of an actual audience, coughing when it is bored, silent and intent when it is properly held. And when such writers, directors, actors, had triumphantly survived this test, they would return to their studios refreshed and heartened, feeling closer for some time to their vast invisible and remote audiences."

The regulation of the taxi industry remains upside down.  Lessons have not been learned, the nonsensical embracing the senseless.  Do I think the current regulators in Seattle and King County would suddenly resign their high paying positions and relinquish their authority and jobs to folks like me who could, if allowed repair the damage done to the industry?  As I always end when I pose this kind of question, we all know the answer.

And two "can't miss"  Priestley plays you should read or see performed:  "An Inspector Calls" and "Johnson Over Jordan." 

A Taxi Poem

The impetus, inspiration for this poem comes from another cabbie writer, Sean Singer, who plied the NYC streets for 6 years.  His book of taxi poems is "Today in the Taxi" published by Tupelo Press in 2022.  All of the poems begin with "Today in the taxi" which I found interesting, making the very personal experience that is cab driving somewhat impersonal, which it can never be, you the urban cabbie dealing with every situation and hazard known to the human species.  Hence, the poem now on this page.  I recommend Sean's book. It sells for $19.95.  Tupelo's telephone number is 413-664-9611 and their email address is contact@tupelopress.org.  

Not A, or The but My Taxi

It must be, and no other manner or way

should it have been when driving a cab 

it being my cab whether a later shift

or my medallion it was me and my cab searching

the taxi streets, a modern centaur one

body one mind bonded in purpose transporting

every possible imaginable passenger dreadful

or kind down busy highways and darkened 3 AM

in the morning streets it was me and my taxi

no other than we in partnership making that

big money, each day and night getting home

safely to a warm bed either alone or together, it

was always us me and my taxi. 

 _____________________________

My original version does not have the spacing between sentences but either way I find it captures in short form the experience of driving a cab.   Is this only my second taxi-themed poem ever?  It might be.  For me, I stayed too long in the business, instead of getting my necessary paper allowing me to set up shop as a clinical psychologist.  Not only would I have made more money though my usual average over the years was $40.00 per hour, but as I have said repeatedly, there is only so much accomplishment in getting passengers efficiently from point A to B.  I was good at it but better if I had helped folks unravel the knot of serious emotional trauma.  From my first professional psych job back in 1974, I found, for whatever reason, that I had the ability to speak to and reach the very chronically mentally ill.  Of course that skill matched the requirement of taxi, where the human condition in all of its forms stepped into the back seat, the cabbie's version of the psychiatric couch. 

Regrets?  When one is aging, yes, certain decisions can come back to haunt.  I still have time to recoup what I lost but certainly wished I hadn't backed myself into this corner.  Some will say, and have said, that I was one of the greatest cabbies to ever work beneath the taxi toplight in Seattle or perhaps anywhere.  

The problem with that honor tough is simply financial.  In America these days, if you are the GOAT in any area, you are making millions of dollars.  Instead, a taxi "GOAT" is regarded little more than an farmyard animal, an actual goat munching grass or straw in the pasture.  That's the issue.  That's the problem.  

As I mentioned earlier my friend Stacy Anderson, who I nominated and crowned as the TAXI KING, was one of the best at what he did in any taxi city or country. What was Stacy's ruling empire?  I am sorry to say nothing but a very large dunghill that smelled to high heaven. So it was and so it is, that's the sad story concerning this taxi biz.  Gee whiz!

Only Once a Month at Best

This blog is winding down, soon there will only silence, no motor sound, no more speaking and writing about that NW Seattle town.  To other tasks I am bound.  And besides, life is a circus and why be bored reading the ravings of a aging taxi clown? who no longer smiles, displaying a perpetual frown. 

New Year's 2025 Taxi Comments: Big Taxi Lunkhead Hits the "Pickled Pepper Big Time"

Happy New Year!  Pour the Local Beer!

Yes, it's the new year but what does it mean for Seattle and USA taxi?  Is taxi a mere after thought, faded to disappear like the carrier pigeon, extinct and forgotten?   Probably not, at least not in the bigger cities, though taxi much diminished but surviving.  The real serious issue facing taxicab in 2025 are much higher insurance rates.  State of Washington insurance rates for every kind of of insurance increased on average by almost 23 %.  My last annual taxi insurance was more or less $5000.00.  If I was still driving, I would be looking at about a $1,200,00 increase.  In terms of taxi hours, that translates into 40 hours averaging $30.00 per hour; or 30 hours averaging $40.00 per hour.  I use these figures as they were my usual take, depending on the day and business climate.  As any honest cabbie will tell you, regardless of how much money they are making, good or bad, the grind, the wear and tear on the body catches up to you, which means higher insurance is a further economic burden.  If insurance costs weren't so dire, I would consider starting a taxi company here in SW New Mexico, because one is needed but I would be paying the same rates as if I were owning cabs in Seattle or Chicago or New York.  That isn't logical but does Progressive care? Of course not. 

When You Are Not A Great Cabbie, You're In A Pickle, And for Howard Lev, That Was His Solution

Back in the early 1990s, I knew I a big lunkhead of a cabbie, Howard Lev.  He was the typical case example of the dopy, alienated white American male attracted to America's Grand Marginal Industry, cab driving.  But Howard, braggart Howard had a plan that was much smarter than Bigheaded Cabbies like me.  He had a recipe for pickling Hungarian peppers and, wouldn't you know it, his "Mama Lil's Peppers" have overtaken the condiment world.  They are on grocery shelves everywhere.  In the Dec 12th, 2024 issue of the Seattle Times' Pacific magazine, there was the goofy Howard happy as a pickled pepper.  Good for him.  And call me a Big Sour Cucumber Pickle, jealous as a spicy pepper in a jar, looking on enviously from afar. 

The Great Ford Crown Victoria 

Taxi buddy Bill sent me link about a NYC Yellow Cab Crown Vic retired at 575,000 miles.  The video showed that the car was in incredible shape.  My last Crown Vic, starting at 103,000 miles, brought me up to over 450,000 miles before I retired it and sold it to a neighbor.  I assume it is still running.  It was burning a bit of oil on the original engine but still, on the highway I was still getting 20 miles per gallon.

Gasoline Prices for the New Year

Anyone in Seattle won't believe it but 2 days ago I filled up for $2.39 per gallon.  Recently, the national average was just under $3.00.  Despite GOP rhetoric, during Biden's last year in office, America's oil industry produced and sold more oil than ever before.  Don't believe me?  Look it up.  

I Never Liked MV

MV took over the billing of King County's Metro account, which once was an incredible money producing account but MV destroyed it.  In my last taxi months, I dropped it.  And now recently, they have been months behind in paying accounts served.  But the real culprit is KC Executive Dow Constantine, the great LIberal-I-Love-Everyone as long as everyone thinks I do.  Where do these people come from? Ron Sims, Mr. Constantine?  Heaven help the hard working cabbie!

New Year's Day First Ride Over the Mountains

A goal of every Seattle cabbie was to get that long ride east over the Cascades.  Driving Farwest Taxi, my first one came on Jan 1st, 1989, taking a BN train crew over to Wenatchee, WA.  Good fare.  Over $200.00.  I got caught in a blizzard coming back.  Best part was the story the crew told about their last cabbie.  He was such a bad driver they put him in the back seat and drove the cab themselves to Wenatchee.  That was funny.

The Passing of a Once Chicago Cabbie

Most probably don't know but my friend Marty (Martin Crafts Campbell), who died this morning at 5:33 AM in Las Cruces, NM, at age 78, drove cab for a few months way back when in Chicago, something like 1968.  He had a gun pulled on him.  Rough place to drive a cab, Chicago.  RIP Marty beneath that Toplight in the Sky. 

 

Last Taxi Comments Of The Year 2024---A Taxi Dream

 There isn't much too report.  Uber and Lyft dominated, with taxi filling in the gaps.  It has been almost a year since I've provided any kind of transportation services, December 2023 being the last month, that being my Uber experiment and not taxi.  This being my birthday, I would have worked it as I always did.  Christmas too was always too good of a day not to work, my positive sentiments concerning that holiday long vanished since my divorce in 1987.  As many might remember, I took a number of cab rides last year in Europe and Asia Minor, and in January of this year in Mexico, a total of three rides.  Taxi will always remain part of my essential soul and self, the experience tattooed upon my brain and psyche, which probably explains last night's dream, amusing because it starts off in Seattle and ends up in New Mexico.  No, I didn't dream of the kind of magical ride I always hoped for though missed having in my 35 plus years beneath the toplight.  This dream started in downtown Seattle, taking a group of elderly tourists up to a museum located on a desert mountain pass.  It was my favorite kind of fare, asked to keep the meter running while they strolled through the museum.  Though telling my passengers a little about taxi reality, that was it, the dream ended, having I suppose left my fare stranded on the mountain. Hopefully they found their way back down.  I could say more but for today I will go with less, only saying hello to damn taxi in my dreams. 

I Promise: Taxi And Nothing But Taxi. Two NY City Taxi Tales From The NY Times "Metropolitan Diary" & A Real Life Taxi Novel: "Relita's Angel" ("Nobody's Angel") By Jack Clark, Chicago Cabbie & Have You Ever Wondered How Many Murderers You've Driven In Your Taxi?

Back to Taxicab, the Favorite Topic of Kings and of course Drag Queens 

Hell with politics, to hell with most everything but on the menu today its all "taxi specials," half-cooked or digestible I leave it up to you to decide.  Serving up first as your appetizer are two taxi stories taken from the December 1st, 2024 edition of the New York Times "Metropolitan Diary."  Both entertaining and both "real taxi," no goddamn Uber or Lyft sniffing around here.  No foolin' around. 

Ride Share

Dear Diary:

I had been living in the city for about a year and was slowly shedding my pleasant Midwestern manners in favor of some much-needed New York chutzpah.  It was raining, and I was trying to hail a cab to the Lower East Side during rush hour.  I knew it was a long shot.

Suddenly, one pulled up.  Just as I was about to get in, a man appeared out of nowhere and opened the passenger door on the opposite side.

I was in a classic New York City conflict I had seen in movies and TV shows.

We immediately started to bicker whose cab it was.  The cabby was getting increasingly annoyed, as were the people trying to use the crosswalk we were blocking.

Exasperated, I finally let my guard down.

"Where are you going?" I asked my enemy.

"East Village," he said.

"I'm going to the Lower East Side," I said.  "Get in."

I climbed in and sat down.  Slowly and reluctantly, he got in on the other side.

We sat in silence for the first block but eventually called a truce and shook hands when we parted ways.

Dave Quantic

________________________________

Yes, I too have had folks battle for the elusive cab but given who I am, instead of allowing fisticuffs I became a referee.  When a crowd of eager beavers are approaching, I lock the doors, taking the first raised hand.  I don't argue, I don't take bids or ask where they are going.  I see you first, you're in.  Someone else might be going to San Francisco.  I don't care, instead making it simple.  You're in and everyone else, you gotta wait.

That Was Quick

Dear Diary:

In May 1978, I and several other Cornell students traveled to Manhattan for interviews with prospective employers.  After the interviews we needed to get back to Port Authority to catch a bus back upstate.

I decided to show off my worldliness by confidently hailing a cab.  We piled in and I directed the driver to take us to Port Authority.

"Port Authority?" he asked.

"Please," I replied.

He stared at me for a moment, drove the cab for about 20 yards and pulled over.

"Here you go!" he announced.

I was thoroughly embarrassed.

"What's the charge?" I asked meekly.

"Nothing" he said.  It was worth the entertainment." 

George Lutz

____________________

Yes, sometimes people don't know where they are, and a bunch of years ago, a drunk couple certainly didn't.  I am belled into a DT motel, and the couple are going to a concert.  They jump in and I drive maybe 30 feet to the concert hall across the street.  Yes, they didn't know and I got a big tip.  Nothing like being disoriented.  They were stumble down drunk, harmless, only dangerous to themselves. 

Real Taxi! Brothers and Sisters! Real Taxi expressed by Chicago cabbie Jack Clark

I'll call this the main course.  Down here in New Mexico I've  just put up my Ikea bookcases, and unloading my many, too many boxes of books.  In one box was a paperback my friend Marty gave me 20 years ago, "Relita's Angel," a hard-boiled crime/taxi novel by someone who knows the trade inside and out, having driven cab for over 30 years.  It was refreshing and highly entertaining reading about the real-life crap all us cabbies know too well. The copy I read was self-published, one of 500.  Eventually it was reissued by a mainline publisher under the new title of "Nobody's Angel."  Search it out.  It is bloody great.  Having read hundreds of novels if not a thousand, Clark's book is damn good, the characters walk right out of the pages, grabbing you.  For anyone whose driven a cab, you're gonna like this book. 

God! the People we have Transported in the Back Seat!

During my off and on 35 plus years beneath the toplight, often I have wondered just what percentage were downright murderers.  Not that they necessarily wanted to murder me but how many of the untold thousands in my cab actually accomplished the foul deed I'm glad I never knew.   There was the "secret agent" who, before falling asleep, warned me not to use my cell phone because he would have to kill me.  He was going to Tacoma to meet the bride that Putin, yes that Putin, was delivering to him.  As any cabbie will tell you, they could not make this stuff up if they tried.  He gave me a hundred dollar bill for the ride  No complaints.  I hope they made for a happy couple.

I say all this because the New York Times reported that the guy who murdered the UnitedHealthcare executive, Brian Thompson in Manhattan, jumped off his getaway bicycle in Central park and hailed a cab, taking him to an interstate bus station.  I wonder if he tipped the driver?  

As I always said, and do say, cabbies carry everyone, every type of person residing on our planet.  There ain't no waiver.  We get everybody, good and bad, happy or sad or on the run, having just killed someone with their silent gun.  Bang! Bang! you're dead!  Nothing more left to be said.  Amen. 

The Commonplace Taxicab Passenger And Typical American Voter, One Of The Same, Two Of The Same Brain---A Shared Illiteracy The Obvious Source And Blame---A Cabbie's Post-Election Assessment Of How And Why All America Should Cry

 A Slightly Humorous Take Upon A Less Than Funny Election

Well, maybe not so funny but this election truly a reflection of America today, what it is and what it isn't.  But before I get into post-election analysis and commentary, I will grace your eyes with some hopefully applicable quotes to what we, the American voting public, just witnessed.  Laugh or cry as you may but what we appear to be seeing is democracy seen through a myopic lens, an hazy interpretation of what American Culture is and isn't.  An ophthalmologist might term the 2024 election as the "Year of the Cataract Inflicted Voter," whose distorted vision requires immediate surgery.  And of course a seeing eye dog.

Chinese Proverb:

"I hear and I forget.  I see and I remember. I do and I understand."  Xunzi (340-245 BCE)   

This quote is taken from "Patterns of World History," Oxford University Press, 2012, Peter von Sivers, Charles A. Desnoyers & George B. Stow.  If you search for it on the internet, you'll understand better why this applies to this election and to voting in general.

H. L. Mencken, July 26th, 1920 (the complete and non-abbreviated quote):

"The larger the mob, the harder the test.  In small areas, before small electorates, a first rate man occasionally fights his way through, carrying even the mob by force of his personality. But when the field is nationwide, and the fight must be waged at second and third hand, and the force of personality cannot so readily make itself felt, then all the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre---the man who can most easily adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual vacuum.

The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men.  As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people.  We move toward a lofty ideal.  On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the day will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron." 

The sad part about this is that it remains true over 100 years later.  I give you this question.  Has expansion of the vote improved overall representation?  The year after the majority of American woman (1919) got the right to vote, Warren G. Harding was elected in 1920.  Anyone remember the"Tea Pot Dome" scandal?  Harding, dying in office in 1923, gave us Calvin Coolidge.  It is hard to find but the Sinclair Lewis novel from 1928, "The Man Who Knew Coolidge" is worth reading.  Very funny.  I liken it to one long prose poem.  

The next quote, two paragraphs, are taken from an article entitled "The Nazis were Human-just like Us" by Sir Richard J. Evans, which was published in the November 2024 issue of BBC History Magazine.  In August of this year, Evans published "Hitler's People: The Faces of the Third Reich."   The quote can be found on page 66 of the magazine, the article under the greater subject line, THINK PIECE/The Third Reich.  This examination is also part of a greater series on BBC Two.  Find it at bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00084td

"In addition to all this, an important new reason has emerged for turning our attention to Hitler and to those who carried out his orders. For the past few years, democracy has faced a growing threat in many parts of the globe.  Would-be dictators and strongmen have emerged, undermining and attacking democratic institutions in one country after another, replacing the rule of law by the arbitrariness of their own whims, muzzling the media and curbing freedom of thought.  They have millions of followers who swallow their propaganda lies and seem to care little about truth, probity or general human decency. 

While history never repeats itself, it does, as Mark Twain is reputed to have said, sometimes rhyme.  By trying to understand Hitler and the men and women who joined him in creating the Nazi dictatorship, we may perhaps help ourselves to better understand the enemies of democracy and the leaders and followers of authoritarian or populist movements and regimes in our own time."

I provide you this due to my obvious feeling that there are parallels between now,  the year 2024 and 1933/34 and what happened in Germany.  As Evans says, I see the "rhyme" in recent events and statements made both by Trump and the GOP and their followers.  How can anyone forget what happened on January 6th, 2021?  

Now I want to share two foreign language words that could apply to Mister Trump and what he does and is doing.  Words in any language can provide explanation.  Understanding and knowledge is essential for comprehending the world, both human and nature, around us.  Real information minus silliness is vital.  Factuality I suggest should be everyone's first religion. 

These two words, one from the Dutch and one from the German, are from the Dictionary Scoop website dated November 26th, 2024.  No, I don't speak either language, having enough trouble with English.  I have long enjoyed reading dictionaries and exploring new vocabulary.  Back during my ill-fated 10th grade of formal education, working on the school newspaper I wrote a column I called "The Spotted Zarf."  I am not telling you the definition.  Grab that dictionary! 

Epibreren: A Dutch word that means to act convincingly as if you are doing something important while actually doing nothing useful at all.  For more info concerning this word, go to DirectDutch.com.  Have fun!

Verschlimmbessern: A German word that literally means "to make something worse while trying to improve it." Or, "making something worse while intending to make it better."  For more info, go to https://germanyinusa.com 

Call me a cynic or just plainly, an asshole but these are apt descriptions of the incoming 47th President.  But I mostly disagree that Trump has any intention of making anything better for anyone except perhaps himself.  His entire narcissist personal history screams that out loud and clear.  Maybe many American voters need to have their hearing checked.  Or perhaps to them, common English usage is unintelligible. "What is Trump really saying?"  "Oh, that he loves me!?"  "Of course that must be true!"  And if you believe that, you belong in a zoo!

First, Before more Diatribe, WA ST Results:

At least with Seattle and King County and Statewide races, the Democrats won, and most won decisively.  The two Republicans I voted for, Sharon Hanek for WA ST Treasurer, and Lori Theis, District 32, WA State House, both lost badly even though they would have done a good job.  But when people blindly vote a ticket minus knowing anything about the candidate other than their party affiliation, you get what happened in Seattle and elsewhere in the country.  I do admit that some of the local GOP candidates were unelectable but is it fair to paint everyone with the same brush without first doing some investigation?  No it isn't but welcome to the mindlessness governing most voter's decision making. Three-quarters of all Americans are either overweight or obese.  Plump voters equal fat-headed decision making?  Perhaps.  And what a hypothesis that is, poor diets translating into knucklehead voting.  I'm am sure it is something based on solid science and endorsed by that Trump favorite, Dr. Oz.  Let's all us eat a Twinkle in celebration!

And continuing with WA ST results, only one of the millionaire's initiatives passed, that being the "take your hands off my natural gas stove" one.  While half-baked, natural gas does a great cheese omelet. 

Parallel Minds: Cab Passengers and the American Voter

I will fully admit it.  Given the obvious information concerning Donald Trump, I felt he was unelectable but I should have known better, given my long experience in the cab dealing with the typical passenger.  There is no better place to understand America than behind the wheel of a cab.  Everybody, and I mean every type of person imaginable enters the cab.  Transportation is a necessity whether one is crazy or sane--- they have to get to where ever they need to be.  And therein lies the typical American conundrum: everyone thinks they know more than you do upon every subject under God's heaven.  

The customer gets in the cab and of course they know the best route when clearly they don't.  One thing that is true about the illiterate passenger is that they don't understand or respect literacy, and in my case, knowing every damn street in Seattle and how to swiftly get from A to B, not comprehending I speak a different language, taxi, an obscure local dialect. 

The parallel to the typical voter is similar.  Thinking they know all about our American governmental rules and traditions and history, they make cockeyed decisions based upon self-manufactured fantasy, economic realities and fundamental laws be damned, insisting they know the best way to democracy even though their way is a crooked highway to autocracy.  

Thus, this kind of illiteracy is dangerous, leading to a dead-end like Donald Trump, DeStantis and many others more than willing to upend the 248 years-long arc of relative progressive democracy.  At times it has been a very bumpy ride but still we as a nation have arrived every four years to a rational agreement that what was started in 1776 was a good idea and should continue. 

Getting back to taxicabs, countless times have I told the disruptive passenger, " No sir, No madam" "Sorry to say but I know the way better than you.  Just sit back and I will get you there quicker than you can imagine."  But when someone thinks they are smarter than you, that you are fooling them, that you can't be trusted, you get a bad ride and a bad election.  Clearly Kamala Harris knew the best route taking America forward but instead voters chose the candidate taking America backward.  Try to tell them we are taking a wrong turn and they start shouting.  You should hear them in the cab, acting like I was about to murder them by taking the correct route, not for a moment respecting me.  

And that folks, in a taxi nutshell, is what happened to Harris.  H.L. Mencken's mob won the day, taking all of us down a doomed highway.  What our final destination will be I am afraid to think but on this slippery roadway I fear we are all headed for the nearest ditch, and once there, spinning our wheels, stuck in Trump's muck until 2028, the voters then calling for the nearest Democrat tow operator to get us the hell out of here. 

The True State Of Seattle Taxi: 1700 Miles Away, She Called Me For A Cab Ride

 As my Favorite Dispatcher from the "Voice" Days used to repeat, "That's a true story!"

Yes, Janis, in faraway West Seattle, who still had my business card, called me for a cab ride.  For better and often worse, passengers rarely forgot this cabbie.  Sometimes they loved me and other times hated me but across the taxi board, they found me memorable.  When Janis said she was at "Park West," I responded, "yeah, the 1700 block of California."  

That's what you got with me, I knew the city and still do.  Janis had tried Lyft and had a negative ride, and at the time of night she called, I am guessing there just wasn't any Yellow cabbies interested in flying across the West Seattle Bridge rescuing a fair damsel recovering from a broken leg.  We ended up talking for over a half an hour, Janis feeling a bit isolated in her rehab room. 

And folks, that is what taxi driving is all about, responding individually to a passenger's needs, whether they are 16 inches away sitting in the backseat or 1700 miles directly northwest of you.  Maybe that's why I was both loved and hated: I was attentive.  If you were nice and polite, you received a taxi ride of a lifetime.  If an asshole, I was always at first tolerant but warning: continue your evil ways and sorry buddy, you gotta go, and I mean now!  

Ah yes, sweet old taxi, how I don't miss you though some clearly miss me.  You may call me conceited but I knew when I stopped driving cab a gap in overall service would be one of the results.  The reason why is simply, again, I paid attention.  More times than not I rescued passengers trying to catch their flight by noticing an unattended "bell" sitting in a given part of town.  The Cebu callcenter might have been clueless but I wasn't, picking up the call, and like a proverbial "taxi bat out of hell," somehow, someway getting them to Sea-Tac on time despite all the screw-ups sabotaging their ability to get a cab. 

That's why Janis called me.  And why Yellow Cab is still limping along.  Most of the veteran cabbies like me are gone to better pastures, in my case Southwest New Mexico.  Uber and Lyft, they will never replace the professional cab companies and the professional cabbies.  It just isn't possible.  Ask Janis.  She'll tell you all about it. 

Elections Part Three: Finishing Up The State Of Washington----Ballots Have Now Been Sent Out October 18th

Some Election Comments

You will notice that I am including what should not have been omitted from Part Two, that is two Federal elective positions, Senate and Congressional.  The US Senate race involves the incumbent Democrat, Maria Cantwell and her GOP opponent, Dr. Raul Garcia. The other race I will comment on is in the 7th Congressional District, incumbent Democrat Pramila Jayapal vs her GOP rival, Dan Alexander.  My comments will be brief due to the reality is that neither GOP candidate has any chance of beating the Democrat.  

While it is a shame that many of the GOP candidates have some good ideas and positions, the national political reality is that any vote contributing to a GOP House and Senate majority in WA DC could potentially lead to disastrous national consequences extending far into the future.  That's why this election is too important to be too casual about.  

Do we need for tax breaks for the super wealthy?  Do we need more rubber-stamping conservative judges appointed to the Supreme Court?  Do we need to stop fighting climate change?  A vote on the national level for the GOP is a vote to turn back the clock but the clock, my friends, is ticking.  Hesitation this time could be fatal not only for our nation but for our planet's survivability.  This is no time to be a dumbbell.  We are past that moment. 

MAGA Politics: What Is It?

Many people keep yelling, lets "make America great again," which gives me pause, thinking, what "greatness" are they exactly referring to?   If anyone hasn't noticed, the United States keeps chugging along year after year, balancing the good with the bad.  Which eras are they longing to return to?  Could it be the Roaring 1920s, which brought the country Chicago gangsters shooting up the streets and the beginning of the Great Depression?  Ask any elderly American black how much fun they or their parents were having in the 1930s?   How would you like to to limited to a segregated water fountain when thirsty in the hot Alabama sun?  Yes, the 1940s had great dance music but wasn't there a terrible worldwide war ongoing?  How much fun was that, food rationing and innocent American citizens placed in concentration camps?   In the 1950s, the GI Bill paid for many former GIs college education, including my father's but the Middle-Class dream was not equally shared.  And top it off, Eisenhower laid the policy foundation for that disastrous war consuming the 1960s. Just what was the Vietnam Conflict all about, a war that ultimately killed over 58,000 Americans and an estimated 2-4 million Vietnamese?  This was and is  something to celebrate? 

I could go on decade by decade but my point simply put is that America is a roller-coaster ride, some enjoying the ups and downs while others are thrown clear out of their seats, landing on their proverbial heads.  What these MAGA supporters seem to be embracing is a kind of fantasy world that has never existed expect at Disneyland.  During my solitary visit there back in 1960 I loved the place but minus any doubt, even as a six-year-old I knew it was an amusement park and not daily American reality. 

 MAGA appears to me to be a kind of old-fashioned Isolationism, something very popular in our history but this version is an "Isolationism of the Brain." a setting aside of reality for an imaginary America that never existed and will never exist, these folks searching for an Utopia even beyond Thomas Moore's imagination.  The sad reality is that 95% percent of the American voting electorate have never heard or known of Moore, who he was and his time and place.   And worse, most could care less one way or the other, delusion their final destination, Utopia to them is a Big Mac and fries and a large Coke. Munch away!  Drink up! And cheer on your local NFL team!

But first! a few moments of self indulgent poetic nonsense (editor's note: skip if you will directly to the candidates).

A Doggerel Election Poem

America, America is in a sad place

All its Voters floating 

in Outer Space

Not knowing truth from a lie

Too many accepting verbatim anything said

From a most dishonest, dishonorable guy

Who doesn't care about you

nor me,

Totally obsessed with yet again

obtaining the White House key.

Why vote, why do they cheer 

for this complete buffoon?!

It can only mean you yourself too

are a misguided feathered loon

incapable of knowing Wrong

from Right

But if your brain has an internal 

100 watt bulb,

Please, Brothers and Sisters:

Please illuminate that 

LIGHT!

Opening your eyes to much needed

Constitutional

INSIGHT!

_________________________

 More USA Doggerel

Ain't it something, ain't it sad,

Our entire country gone mad!

Out of its mind, out of its brain,

It is complete Bedlam,

It's totally insane!

To a Jesus anointed candidate

To a Hillbilly VP

The election season has gotten very

October Halloween creepy!

All the GOP candidates 

monsters and vampires

seeking your election blood,

and after that,

burying all truth 

in the Helene and Milton

hurricane ravaged and flooded

 Florida DeSantis 

MUD!

_______________________________

All this done with a wink at Ogden Nash (1902-71), thinking he would like my sass, then kick my ass!

___________________________________________________________

United State Senator

Democrat incumbent Maria Cantwell vs GOP Doctor Raul Garcia 

Cantwell has been in the US Senate since the year 2000, and she isn't going to lose this election.  Check out her website and you will find she has been a good workhorse for the State of WA.  But her GOP opponent, Raul Garcia, is a moderate that would bring a fresh perspective to the Senate.  He is a ER doctor from Yakima in Eastern WA.  He owns a medical practice along with being the founding dean of two medical schools and medical director of two hospitals.  It is a wonder he has time to campaign.  I voted for Cantwell but a vote for Garcia isn't a bad choice except for what I said earlier about national implications. 

7th Congressional District 

Democrat Pramila Jayapal vs GOP Dan Alexander 

I voted for Jayapal but I didn't want to, her "Liberal-Knee-Jerk" reaction is sometimes minus thought but sometimes I just hold my nose when I vote.  Her GOP opponent seems like a Republican in the tradition of the late Dan Evans, a Boeing engineer and local arts supporter.  He seems to be a moral human being, something of a rare GOP animal in this Age of Trump. 

WA Sec of State

Incumbent Steve Hobbs vs Dale Whitaker

What the job does.  The Secretary of State oversees election security, state archives, public libraries and business licenses. 

Hobbs was appointed by Governor Jay Inslee to succeed the GOP Sec of State Wyman, who resigned to take a position in the Biden administration.  Hobbs won a special election in 2022.  Reading a report of a recent debate in Spokane between the two candidates, I can' really figure why Dale Whitaker is running for the office other than to tear it down.  Hobbs seems genuinely interested in safeguarding voter's rights as opposed to Whitaker's unfounded suspicions.  It seems Whitaker is a Donald Trump  Republican posing as a State of WA moderate.  I voted for Hobbs.  I predict Whitaker will garner 35-40 % of the statewide vote. 

WA State Office of Treasurer

DEM Mike Pellicciotti, incumbent vs GOP Sharon Hanek

I find this to be an interesting race.  But there are two figures which is going to translate into a Pellicciotti victory: a $464,000 Pellicciotti campaign war chest vs a mere $38,000 for Hanek, which is a shame because she might be the better candidate.  What Hanek is questioning is the 1.7 billion mishandled COVID funds creating an auditor's nightmare.  I think it would be wise to explore this issue more than I have time to give it.  

One initiative that Pellicciotti, promotes, dubbed the "Baby Bond", is officially called the WA Future Fund, something providing a $4000.00 trust fund for the estimated 40,000 yearly Medicaid babies born each year in the state. Interesting idea, trying to create a kind of affirmative action equality for the unborn.  Please remember that Donald Trump had 2 million dollars when he was born.

Hanek is a long time CPA.  She is interested in fiscal sanity.  I voted for Pellicciotti but I should have voted for Hanek.  She is the one I recommend.  Good luck, Sharon, is all I can say.

WA State Auditor 

DEM incumbent Patrice "Pat" McCarthy vs GOP Matt Hawkins

I pity Hawkins because he is running against a real buzzsaw in McCarthy.  She has been State Auditor since 2017 and it was her office that made 86 findings against 11 state agencies spending 1.7 billion in federal funds minus proper or sufficient evidence.  Hawkins is a law & order kind of guy but in McCarthy she is the Sheriff.  Vote for Patrice. 

WA Attorney General 

DEM Nick Brown vs GOP Pete Serrano 

These are the guys who want to replace the man who is about to become governor, Bob Ferguson.  Nick Brown is a former US Attorney for Western WA.  He also once served as Gov Jay Inslee general counsel.  In other words, he is a well known local figure.  Pete. Serrano is currently the city of Pasco mayor and once worked for the US Dept of Energy as an environmental lawyer helping to clean up the mess that is the Hanford nuclear site.  Serrano might be described as someone who believes in less government, advocating for folks to own guns regardless of need and not liking the COVID-19 mandates telling you to wear a mask during a epidemic.  Brown is for civil liberties.  I voted for Brown and think your vote should be cast for him too.  My only connection to Pasco is that I had two taxi fares to that distant E WA city.  Over $500.00 each time.  I liked that but not enough to vote for its mayor.  

WA Commissioner of Public Lands

DEM Dave Upthegrove  vs GOP Jaime Herrera Beutler 

The primary difference between them is their vision on how to manage WA St Forests.  Upthegrove wants to preserve more forests, allowing the trees to become second-generation "old-growth," while Herrera Beutler wants to utilize more of WA State owned timber to generate state income.  Both support fire suppression. I voted for Herrera Beulter in the primary and for Upthegrove in the general election.  To me, its a tossup.  Both will do a good and honest job.  You might remember that when in Congress, Jaime voted to impeach that scoundrel Trump.  It cost her her seat.  She is ethical.

WA Superintendent of Public Instruction

DEM incumbent Chris Reykdal vs GOP David Olson

There is only one real candidate here, and that is Chris Reykdal.  Mister Olson is another kind of Republican animal, no, not the usual elephant but an ostrich with his head in the sand. Olson is against accurate history being taught in schools, which translates into not wanting children to know the REAL history of their own country.  Reykdal's policy positions are ones of student empowerment, interested in students becoming independent thinking, not automations bowing down to mindless authority.  Reykdal is the only serious candidate here.  

WA Insurance Commissioner 

DEM Patty Kuderer vs GOP Phil Fortunato

Mike Kreidler, who held the position since the year 2000, decided not to run after some questioned his temperament, finding him belligerent.  Knowing the bad publicity wasn't going away, he stepped down, giving us the race we now see.  To me, once again, I only see one serious candidate, and that is Kuderer.  Fortunato isn't at all shy about being an advocate for the insurance industry, wanting them to issue rates hike minus review, his reasoning being this will ultimately lower rates, not increase them.  I'm glad he trusts insurers but I certainly don't.  In short, Kuderer will be a consumer advocate and her opponent will glad-hand the insurance industy.  Read her candidate statement in the WA ST voter guide and you will understand why she can be trusted to fight for you the WA ST consumer. She got my vote and deserves yours. 

WA ST Supreme Court, Justice 2

Dave Larson vs Sal Mungia 

Larson has been a judge for the Federal Way Municipal Court for 14 years.  He writes and talks as exactly who he is.  There is no mistaking that he is a professional judge.  Sal Mungia, the son of immigrants, is a next-generational success story.   He has loads of impressive endorsements and has argued before the US Supreme Court.  If you want a conservative take, vote for Larson.  If you are interested in a "breath of fresh air" on Washington's highest court, vote for Mungia.  I did.

 King County Superior Court, Judge Position 41

Paul Crisalli vs Andrew Schach 

Crisalli is the sitting judge.  Schach has been an Administrative Law Judge in the state of WA.  Both of their policy statements seem reasonable.  I voted for Crisalli.  The only way to truly know who is good or not is to appear before them as a defendant, something I would rather avoid.

City of Seattle Council Position # 8

Alexis Mercedes Rinck vs Tanya Woo, incumbent

I voted for Mercedes Rinck in the primary and Woo in the general.  Why?  Because Mercedes Rinck appears to espouse positions that have done little to nothing to addressing homelessness and street level drug abuse.  Woo is trying to be a little tougher, and besides, she is the only voice for Seattle's large Asian community.  Because Woo was appointed, if you don't like her, you can vote her out in a year or two. 

Legislative District 32, State Rep Position 1

DEM Cindy Ryu, incumbent vs GOP Lisa Rezac

Ryu has been in office for a longtime.  I even saw her in Olympia when I was doing something involving taxi.  I voted for her.  Rezac is a Brian Heywood "Let's Go Washington" initiatives fan.  That's enough for me to know I can't recommend her.  Boo!

Legislative District 32, State Rep Position 2

DEM Lauren Davis, incumbent vs GOP Lori Theis

I voted for Theis because she is "mad as hell" about all the crime related nonsense occurring on Aurora Ave North.  As someone who lived next to Bitter Lake for a few years before moving down here in NM, I can attest to the madness bleeding over from Aurora.  My cars were broken into twice.  Prowlers were frequent.  The condo association had to build a fence but still there was trouble.  Lauren Davis clearly is a caring person.  Theis seems like she is ready to starting screaming at all the fools allowing chaos in her neighborhood.  That's why I voted for her. Go ahead, Lori, shout your lungs out!  Maybe, just maybe,  someone will hear you. 

City of Seattle  Proposition # 1---Property Tax Levy Renewal for Transportation 

I voted no because it raises property taxes by about $600.00 annually on average and does not achieve what it sets out to do, repairing Seattle's failing bridges.  As I keep saying, Mayor Bruce Harrell, in my experience, is a clueless fool, and that is a kind assessment.   Seattle voters appear to be favoring this levy but I think it should be returned to the City Council for further revision.  Vote no and curse Harrell as you hit yet another pothole.

__________________________________________

Okay everyone, you get what you got and maybe all my opinions is rot but still I had fun suggesting what vote to take, and if you don't like it, go jump in a lake (Lake Washington, that is!)

Vote your conscious, vote your mind, and hopefully, come November 6th, everything will be fine!