They say you get what you deserve, but I can’t believe it’s true. At least, I can’t believe Americans deserve what we’re getting from our president and our Congress when it comes to our energy policy, or lack thereof.
What saddens, baffles, and, yes, infuriates me most is the attitude on the part of our alleged leaders that we’re too stupid to catch on, too self-serving to care, or too lazy to do anything about it. Well, it ain’t true, Washington. There are a lot of us plain old trusting, taxpaying, patriotic citizens who have just about had it with the lies, distortions, false promises, and politically self-serving behavior, and we want a change.
And before the Democrats in the crowd start rubbing their hands together in glee, let me add, “and that goes for you, too.” Sadly, even those—in either party—who acknowledge the seriousness of the energy problem aren’t willing to make it their battle cry.
Doesn’t anybody in Washington read history anymore? (Apparently not, although I’m sure they read plenty of books on how to raise ever more money, or how to stay in power forever.) If they did, even a teeny weeny bit, they’d quickly learn three things.
1.) Things don’t
always go the way you expect.
2.) Even seemingly invincible nations don’t stay on top forever. England, Spain, Rome, China, Egypt—all achieved dominance, then lost it (and not always for the reasons they had anticipated and protected against!). Although I wasn’t there (I’ve been around a long time, but not that long!), I’d be willing to bet that at the height of their respective powers, very few of their citizens would have believed that their great nation could deteriorate into an also-ran. I’d guess most people in the United States today don’t understand that, either.
3.) People willingly endure hardships if they believe it will bring a better life for them and their children. Example: During World War II, we all had limited amounts of ration stamps, which were needed to buy small amounts of meat, coffee, butter, sugar—and gasoline. The manufacturing of cars was discontinued for several years, and it was almost impossible to buy tires. But other than making jokes about it, people just accepted it, because they believed in the end goal and they were reassured by a remarkably unified federal government
Contrast that with today, when we’re told it’s perfectly fine to have our taxes reduced at the same time we’re piling on trillions of dollars of new debt for our children and grandchildren to deal with; when the approval rating of the president has been as low as 34 percent, of the vice president 18 percent, and of Congress 23 percent in recent months; and when polarization is so great that it would be laughable if it weren’t so tragic. Except for the more than 2,400 soldiers who are dead, the thousands maimed for life, and their families, the rest of us aren’t being asked to sacrifice a darn thing in this war—just to accept having our phone lines tapped without a warrant, or having our library records reviewed by the government without librarians being able to tell us—or anyone—that it’s occurring.
The will to address the energy situation doesn’t exist in Washington. What we desperately need is what we don’t have: A strong leader who will say to America, “We are addicted to oil and we have no Plan B. It is not inconceivable, in this mad world in which we live, that the oil fields of Saudi Arabia will be destroyed by those who simultaneously hate that country’s leaders and America. Iraq’s oil production is distressed, and Venezuela hates us. We must, we absolutely must move quickly to reduce our vulnerability. First, we’re implementing a $3 per gallon tax on gasoline (and the best plan we can devise to accommodate low-income, gasoline-dependent persons). Next, we’re setting ambitious new vehicle mileage standards, which call for a 15 percent increase by 2011, a 30 percent increase by 2014, and a 50 percent increase by 2018—and these standards, for the first time, will apply to SUVs and trucks! At the same time, we’re going to create and fund an alternative-fuel project that will have the same priority that the atomic-bomb and man-on-the-moon projects had in their time. The sacrifices we’ll have to make are not pleasant and not comfortable, but we need to move quickly to ensure that uncontrollable disasters elsewhere in this world will not decimate the United States of America.”
Don’t hold your breath.
