I predicted back on July 14 that gas prices would be below $2.50 per gallon sometime in October. I misunderestimated the generosity of American Oil Companies toward their GOP friends on the Hill. My bad.
The blood on the hands of Big Oil re: the death of both the Electric Car and the solar power initiatives of the Carter administration are unnoticeable under the blood of all those Iraqi children.
Perhaps it's not a conspiracy. There is more than one oil company, after all, though together they've got an almost complete monopoly on how we get anywhere. Here in the Birmingham suburbs I have to drive six miles round trip just to get in and out of my subdivision. And some have it much worse.
Yes, we choose to live this way. We choose to shop at big box stores with big, free, asphalt parking lots. We choose to drive to work by ourselves in big cars. We can make better choices, but time and time again experience shows that only one factor actually causes Americans to change our behavior: the price of gasoline. Unfortunately for those of us yearning for a change in Washington, the conventional wisdom says low gas prices are good for incumbents.
This from the article "Gas Drives Politics" in the New York Sun:
The gas theory puts an intriguing new spin on history. Under the gas rule, Americans weren't angry at President Bush over the war in Iraq. They were angry because they had to spend more...There also is national psychology. Americans don't have cars. They are cars.
Pathetic, innit?
Then we have the politics of Citgo, and 7-11's decision to drop the Venezuelan company. 7-11's Board of Directors chose to politicize what apparently was a decision made long before Hugo Chavez called Bush "diablo" at a meeting of the UN Security Council:
7-Eleven's supply switch was actually in the works long before President Chavez spoke last week. The company sought bids for a new supplier of gasoline in October of 2004, and lined up at least one replacement more than a month ago.
No offense, Hugo, but you and I could both stand to lay off the Slurpees.
And of course, a lot of us have been engaged in a BUY-cott of Citgo, going out of our way to purchase Citgo gas, for several months now, in support of democracy (something that thanks to Diebold we no longer enjoy here in the US). 'SPECIALLY since Pat Robertson threatened Chavez's life in a fit of "so-called Christian" lunacy. Do ya think a little "diablo" comment is going to change that? Most of us leftie bloggers think Chavez let Bush off just a little easy. Oh, ma hunnie Chavez, viva la revolution, and all that.
I wonder why the right wing somehow wants us to focus our buying power on Middle East oil rather than state-owned Venezuelan oil? Hmm. I thought I smelled a conspiracy somewhere around here.
Looking up other bloggers on this issue has been an education. Michelle Malkin* is spearheading the boycott, thus the wingnuts calling for a Citgo boycott far outweigh those of us who love democracy and our freedoms.
*You want a link there? No fuh-king way. It's bad enough I hadda Google it.
[Yeah, yeah, I expect a knock on the door from "Homeland Security" any day now. Meetcha underground, folks.]
It's the eternal activists' dilemma. How do you make people act in their own best interest?
ReplyDeleteThe concept of free will comes into play.
And for every attempt we make towards growing more evolved and more civilized, the more it seems as though money and the accumulation of things drives us.
I suppose you have to work on yourself first and hope that you can influence a small group of people.
You're probably not important enough for a knock on the door (yet), but I would recommend a supersized firewall.
ReplyDeleteThe real question is, do I want my slurpee before or after the fill-up?
ReplyDeleteJust thought I'd bring the conversation back down to my level.
First, BG, you're the hottest political panty designer on the net today. When you do your IPO, let me know!
ReplyDeleteAs for the argument by the Bushwhackers and their running dog industry informants who say, "Ah, its just the market forces", I say "What a pile of horseshit!"
How do you know the oil companies are all a giant cartel? Try to find gas at a really different price (except at those Commie Citgo places). They all go up at the same time, they all go down at the same time.
When I was a kid, admittedly only a few years after the automated buggy was invented, we used to have "gas wars". Now, there is a whole new meaning to the phrase, which is more like "Oil Wars".
And it used to be that "oil and water" didn't mix, but now I see the Oil Wars has produced Water Boarding as a new way to talk to our adversaries.
So, where do I get those panties again?