It’s easy to proclaim that the U.S. uses too much oil; that the U.S. is evil because it fights “wars for oil” in the Middle East. It’s still easier to shout that there’s NO way in hell our government should permit drilling for oil in Alaska, off shore, or really anywhere that it’s not currently being drilled (and preferably not even there).
The easiest thing of all is to scream that gas prices are too high and they’re getting higher all the time.
You can’t have it both ways. If it’s evil to want and need oil at all–to say nothing at a reasonable price–then you shouldn’t be using oil in the first place. Not only should you not be driving a car. You shouldn’t be eating, drinking, sitting on, being lit by, being cooled or warmed by or in any other remote way be depending upon anything that relies upon oil. The honorable thing to do would be to take cover, like a wild animal, in the great outdoors and hope for the best. Or maybe live like a savage or a caveman. Sound appealing?
To those of you who realize that civilization as we know it absolutely depends on oil, it’s time to face some facts. There’s a supply-demand problem going on here. There’s too little [refined] oil relative to the demand for oil [products] worldwide. Oil production may be adequate, but the demand is getting higher–not only in the United States but in developing countries like China. The high prices are the market’s way of communicating to consumers that there’s not enough [refined] oil to meet the rising demand.
If you want gas prices to be cheaper, you had better favor policies that keep the oil flowing. Those policies are hostile to the agenda of the environmentalist and anti-war crowd who dominate our media-intellectual establishment, and the bulk of thinking in both major political parties. This means it’s up to the rest of us to spread the ideas needed to keep oil prices down.
