Really, I like spending $60 to fill up the tank in my car...okay maybe I don't like it. In fact I pretty much hate it, I'm going broke just driving to work each day. But the Democrats in Washington must think that we all like paying $4 a gallon for gas because they are standing in the way of lower prices again. Or maybe they don't think about us at all, they only think about themselves.
On Wednesday Republican representative John Peterson was trying to push a bill through a house subcommittee that would open up offshore drilling for oil for the first time in 27 years. The Democrats however defeated the bill saying ridiculous things like "we can't drill our way out of this" and claiming that it will take 7 to 10 years to get any of the oil to shore. Okay so it will take some time to get it done, so the Democrats solution is to just do nothing instead.
The environmentalists were there too of course trying to keep prosperity out of America's hands and placing it even more firmly into the hands of terrorist nations. For the Democrats' part in all of this, it was a completely political decision. Their plan is to ensure that gas prices stay high in a presidential election year so that they can say things like "Eight years of a Republican president has given you high gas prices, do you really want more of that?", when really they are the ones that have caused the price increases and are now keeping those prices high while they pretend to be on the side of the American people.
I wish I could believe that their plan won't work but I can't believe that. The reason that I can't believe it is that most Americans don't pay any attention to the day to day sleazy things that politicians do to hinder their constituents and advance their own careers. For a lot of people on election day it is simply a brainless choice between Republican or Democrat parties and very little thought given to what the candidates, regardless of party, actually stand for. I'm generally not a pessimistic person but I really have a hard time seeing any change in the near future to this political formula that drives our nation (into the ground) because the people who have the power to change the status quo are the only ones who are beneficiaries of the status quo and therefore have no desire to change things.
So then as usual we are on our own. I for one plan to try and continue my pursuits of energy saving lifestyle and a 10 mile or less commute to work. I might not have the power to change the world but I can do my best to keep the world of politics from ruining my finances.
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3 comments:
substandardTIM,
I read your article with a bit of curiosity. It's great journalism! By definition, that means your article gets a reader's attention.
I'd like for you to expand on two concepts you've introduced. You said "environmentalists... were.. of course trying to keep prosperity out of America's hands". I'm an environmentalist, and like yourself, I'm pro prosperity. Who are the environmentalists you're speaking of, and what did they do to keep prosperity away? Did they suggest that America use less than 30% of the world's oil? How dare those dirty environmentalists suggest we use our fair share!
I'd also like to hear your thoughts on which nations the USA is doing business with which support terrorism? Are you labeling entire countries of humans as terrorists? Are we currently buying oil from any of our enemies?
I've gotta side with those that think the US is overconsumming the world's resources, based on population. This is provable, and can't be argued. To defend this overconsmption forever and expect things to not worsen, is unrealistic.
Thanks for enabling comments on your blog, substandard! Keep up the good article related to self-employment. That's why I subscribed to your blog's RSS feed.
Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment of considerable length and one professionally written inspite of our differing views.
Let me clarify a few things. Sometimes definitions of concepts in my own brain may be different from how others interpret those same concepts and so I would do well to explain in more specific terms sometimes.
On keeping prosperity out of our hands...the oil prices are hurting many aspects of our economy right now, including me personally, I could be losing my job in a couple weeks. But look at the nations who supply our oil. They are building amazing cities and many of them living like kings from money out of our pockets. I don't wish poverty on any nation, and as a whole our nation is not facing massive poverty. Though to me it seems silly to go half-way around the world to get oil when it's literally sitting in our own backyard.
on terrorist nations...Obviously I'm not ignorant enough to presume that all citizens of nations that have extremist views are extremists themselves. In the cases of some of our oil providers, they differ only slightly from nations we call our enemies. It's all about who wants our money bad enough not to publicly trash us. But even the harsher regimes that we don't personally deal with benefit from high oil prices because even if we aren't buying it from them, somebody is.
on US overconsumption...I agree whole heartedly. America has become a nation of consumers and not producers. I don't defend overconsumption, but I do feel sympathy for the truck drivers who can't afford fuel for their trucks. Though I would much rather see a revitalized railroad system and get a lot of those trucks off the road anyway.
Americans have very short attention spans and if gas prices dropped to a dollar tomorrow we would be back to our old habits fast (which we only marginally left anyway). I have little faith in the American public to use resources sensibly if pressure is removed. My main concern though is caring for my family and right now I have no idea how we will afford to heat the house next winter.
I support sensible usage of the environment. I think environmentalists have done good in some areas (i.e. logging companies having to plant new trees). I would love for alternative energy sources to be readily available for all but right now that is not a reality because the American people lack the will to make it a reality.
Thanks again for the comment.
I get annoyed lately with people who make normative statements like we (the US) shouldn't use as much of the world's resources as we do. The trouble is that is assumes a static pie or zero-sum game. It assumes that if I buy lots of stuff I'm taking stuff from some poor dud in Africa. It simply doesn't work this. People will see this to be true if the US has very bad economic downturn. The rest of the world derives much of it's prosperity from the US. The corollary to this is the price of any commodity is limiting factor on its use. I wish the socialists would ease up on trying to save a world that doesn't need saving. The world would be best served by freedom, both economic and personal.
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