Last week, we reported to you the situation regarding the high fuel prices, low wages, and overall dissatisfaction on the part of owner-operators everywhere. We informed you of the actions that were taken (slowing down the New Jersey Turnpike, for instance), as well as the industry's response to their "uppity" truckers.

But now, things are taking a much more drastic turn for the worse. No more is this peaceful protest on the Turnpike an isolated incident; now, via CB and Internet, truckers across the country are shutting down. And unless something is done about it, it'll be for good. What many people tend not to realize is the fact that truckers and their trucks haul 70% of our nation's goods—everything from Cornflakes to corn ears—and without them, our nation would be at a standstill. As one writer so bluntly put it, "We were able to survive a writers' strike, but a trucking strike would affect a lot more than your viewing options." And Donald Hayden, a trucker out of Maine, puts it: "If all the truckers decide to shut this country down, there's going to be nothing they can do about it."

But there's more to this story than meets the eye. Activist truckers - of which there are many - finally see this as an opportunity to "take back America." They are among the few that are willing to face the consequences for their silent revolution - Hayden recently had three trucks of his repossessed by Daimler-Chrysler for non-payment. Instead of making this act shameful, he made the corporation repossess the trucks in full-view of the citizens of Augusta, Maine: right in front of the statehouse. When the representative from the corporation asked him why he didn’t just make the payments, Hayden responded, saying "See, I have to pay for fuel and food, and I've eaten too many meals in my life to give that up."

But it doesn't end there. Talks have been circulating about possible rebellion in Indiana, New York City (ooh, what a mess), and a giant demonstration in Washington, D.C. on April 28th.

Still others are taking different actions. In West Oakland, CA, people have to choke down the exhaust coming from long-haul truckers driving through on their way to the Port of Oakland - one of the biggest ports on the West Coast. Some trucks will sit and idle for hours waiting for a new load, pumping harmful chemicals and toxins into the air. There are—according to the Alameda County Public Health Department—1,200 excess cancers in the neighborhood, and one man stated that "Every year for the last 15 years I have lived in West Oakland, I know somebody [who] has died of some form of cancer."

Starting with the Motor Carrier Act - signed in 1980 by Jimmy Carter, officially deregulating the industry—truckers have been able to own their own trucks. As such, they contract with private companies that ship through ports, bringing goods in from overseas. Drivers are responsible for dispatch, maintenance, route planning and parking - a lot of work, and at high cost, for truckers to only be paid - on average - $30,000. Which means that truck drivers can only afford to operate older, unsafe and harmful rigs.

"This trucking system is totally broken," says Doug Bloch, an organizer with Change to Win and Oakland director of the Coalition for Clean and Safe Ports. "And it's exploiting the community and it's exploiting the immigrant truck drivers, all for the benefit of Wal-Mart and Target and these huge companies that are moving goods through our port."

But the state of California isn’t doing much to stop it. True, they did pass several initiatives that hope to cut diesel pollution by 85% by the year 2020, but a new rig—which is something that is a requirement—costs upwards of $125,000, and the grants that the state will give out to truckers is only a fraction of that. Couple that with rising gas prices and lower wages, and you have a trucking system on the verge of collapse. But industry that relies on low costs is fighting tooth and nail, threatening to pull truckers out of the ports and more if these initiatives are to take place.

Overall, we see a trucking system on the verge of collapse. From revolution to petitions, things will change—only will they change quickly enough?