Is Anyone Actively Involved?

No matter where I go or to whom I speak, the price of gas is mentioned. Everyone is in a tizzy about how much it takes to fill their tank and what it means to their family's finances.

I use one tank per week. A 16 gallon tank means a $16 increase when gas moved from $3 to $4. A grand total of $64 a month. It isn't the end of the world to me, and I can absorb it. Add in the increase for my wife and we have about a $100 increase to that section of our budget. Others can't absorb it, and I sympathize with them.

It goes further. The price of gas impacts the financial markets. So much of the stock market is psychological in nature and not business in nature. The current stagnation in the economy is driven by the high price of oil. People are leery of the future price of gas so they stop spending discretionary funds. The cycle repeats itself until something breaks it.

I don't understand why the people in D.C. don't get the solutions. I have written about it several times, and it still amazes me that they are not feeling the pressure to change ALL of the things that can get us out of this mess, many of them permanently. Then I ask myself "How many of those that I hear complain write a simple email to their representatives and senators to force some change?" The answer must be "few" because when I ask this question of someone who is complaining I have yet to find someone who responded in the affirmative.

Every time a dem is interviewed and asked about what needs to be done, I hear Charlie Brown's mom respond. "Wah wahh wahhh, wahh wahh waaahhh wahhh wa." It involves taxing oil companies because they shouldn't actually make large profits. They should give them back to us. Then there is this absolute crap about "legislating higher fuel efficiency standards" for automakers, as if a 5mpg increase in efficiency will save the world.

GOPers aren't much better. All I hear is that production needs increased. We all know it does, but it seems they want OPEC to increase production and ignore the fact the the region of the world that controls these things is the very region of the world where Americans can't walk down the street safely. They hate us, yet we continue to provide them tens of billions of dollars in oil revenues that is used to build IEDs and kill Americans. If we didn't have to purchase oil from them, do you know what their countries would rely upon for revenue? NOTHING. There is no manufacturing base, no technology base, nothing but lots of sand to make glass. The slide rule was the latest innovation to come from the region. Can you name a single invention? Have you ever purchased a vehicle from an Iraqi car manufacturer? How about a computer from Iran? Anyone seen an appliance for their home manufactured in Kuwait? Have you peeled a sticker from a product that says "Made in Bahrain"?

They have ONE product that controls the world. There is ONE export that defines us as a nation. People who control the price of oil, control the U.S. economy. Want to stop terrorism? Let them drown in their oil, leave them to fight amongst themselves and bring every American Marine and soldier home and then see how attractive the jihad becomes when they are killing themselves to achieve control over billions of barrels of SAND! Hamas, Hezbollah....both dry up without Iranian and Syrian support. Al-Queda? Hard to hate Americans when you are scrapping for food.

When are we going to be fed up with a mess that only we can fix? When are we going to stop accepting mindless actions that solve nothing? When are we going to demand that the U.S. become a superpower again, and decide that we want to control our own destiny?

The absurdity of politics on this issue is laughable, or at least it would be were it not such a serious issue for every single person in this country.