A funny thing happened on the way to the gas station this week. The price of gas doubled. This was not a week in 2006. In fact it was October, 1973!
These outrageous gas prices are nothing new. For those who are not old enough to have been driving in 1973 let me enlighten you.
There were lines of hundreds of cars waiting to buy what little gas was available. When you got to the pump most stations would only sell you 5 dollars of gas. You could only buy gas on odd or even days, depending on the number of you license plate. In 1973 we had an Oil Embargo. OPEC was punishing the USA for their support of Israel who had just engaged in and won the "Yom Kippur War " with Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Jordan. Our friends in OPEC thought they should teach us Americans a lesson. Unfortunately, we did not learn anything.In 1973 we imported less than half our oil from the members of OPEC.Now we import almost all our oil.
The general population has no clue of what would happen if the Arabs cut the oil supply or even slowed it down by 10 or 20%. It would send this land into Chaos. This great economy the Government tells us we have, would come to a screeching halt. The post Hurricane Katrina gas prices would seem like "the good old days".
In his State of the Union Address, President Bush made some big noise about energy. How we should reduce our dependence on foreign oil and the need for alternative energy sources. Well. I heard the very same speech once or twice before.
On January 30, 1974 President Nixon called for the very same goals as President Bush called for in 2006. By my math, its been 32 years and we are in a more dependent state now than in 1974.
President Ford called for the same things in his State of the Union addresses of 1975, 1976 and 1977.
President Jimmy Carter said on January 19 ,1978...............................................
"Every day we spend more than $120 million for foreign oil. This slows our economic growth, it lowers the value of the dollar overseas, and it aggravates unemployment and inflation here at home.
Now we know what we must do—increase production. We must cut down on waste. And we must use more of those fuels which are plentiful and more permanent. We must be fair to people, and we must not disrupt our Nation's economy and our budget.
Now, that sounds simple. But I recognize the difficulties involved. I know that it is not easy for the Congress to act. But the fact remains that on the energy legislation, we have failed the American people. Almost 5 years after the oil embargo dramatized the problem for us all, we still do not have a national energy program. Not much longer can we tolerate this stalemate. It undermines our national interest both at home and abroad. We must succeed, and I believe we will".............
My question is WHY? After 32 years of our leaders giving lip service to the energy crisis,Why does it still "Loom on the Horizon?" If we would have ever had any real leadership, instead of power brokers for the oil lobby, Our problems would be a distant memory instead of impending crisis. Please visit...http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/sou.php.. and you can read every "State of the Union Address" and see all the false promises for yourself.
Time to wake up and realize all 535 in Washington need to be replaced. They have a 34% Approval Rating and a 99% Re-election rate. Dosen't this seem a bit out of balance?