"If we continue to follow this slippery, oil-slicked, downward-winding path, our citizens will shiver in darkness as our resources hemorrhage to Third World thugs whose only virtue is their control of petroleum-based energy," Reid said.
I thought that Republicans were supposed to be the"fear-mongers" - that's a regular accusation against them from Democrats. This is fiction, and either fantastically ignorant or frighteningly deceptive. It is on a level with racists who see any hint of Spanish as part of a plot by Mexico to annex the USA.
The very counter-argument to Reid's tale was evident in the first half of this year. What happens when the price of oil gets too high? People change. We, with our choices, have the power. The thought, then, that we would sit "shivering in the dark" as we throw money at the oil tyrants is laughable. Or, it would be if it weren't such a base attempt to prey on people's fears.
I am, as I have often been in the past - moreso since he became the majority leader, ashamed that this man represents my state in the Senate.
7 comments:
I often sit in the dark shivering and throwing money. That's because it's fun. Haven't you heard? It's the latest craze...
I don't like fearmongering either, but if the past eight years have proven anything, it's that fearmongering works politically.
Too true, though I expect the line goes much further back than that.
As time goes on and America gets to the point where being utterly destitute against one's will is rather rare, I wonder if growing economic and military superiorty haven't led politicians to positively hunt for persuasive boogeymen to se themselves against.
Bush 2: Be scared of terrorists
Clinton: Be scared of getting poor
Bush 1: Be scared of Dukakis in a tank
Reagan: Be scared of Russia
Carter: Be scared of scandal
Ford: Be scared of stairs
Nixon: Be scared of Commies
Johnson: Be scared of Commies
Kennedy: Be scared of fear itself
Eisenhower: Be scared of Commies
Truman: Be scared of Hitler
Roosevelt: Be scared of starvation
Um, wouldn't YOU be scared of Hitler? And actually, I think Truman would be much more "be scared of Commies and Republicans."
And John Adams: "Be scared of Thomas Jefferson, the howling atheist."
Okay, so it was some random Federalist who called Jefferson that name, not Adams. But I still like to use that example every chance I get to remind myself and others that politics has pretty much always been like this.
And...whatever Reid's overwrought use of imagery, dependence on oil is dangerous. I'm not sure I saw THAT much change from the rise in oil prices and if the skyrocket too much, it's not like we have many viable alternatives sitting around readily available at this point. That thought does scare me a little.
I wanted to go back as far as Washington, but didn't want to betray my ignorance of the exact succession of Presidents and the issues they may have campaigned on.
Fortunately, most of our electrical power comes from domestic coal, natural gas, and a little bit of the renewable stuff, too.
Oil's not gas, and most Americans have a long way to go before they are out of options. It took gas over $4.00 a gallon before I ever saw a single person looking for a carpool, I still saw 16/18 cars with only one passenger when the though struck me to count during a communte, and that was with immesurable wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Carpooling with but one other person would save anyone every dime that the price of gas has increased in over two years, with a somewhat higher degree of inconvinience as a price. It would halve the bill for anyone. Get another person in, and you drop by 2/3.
There is considerable room for immideate change. If the price of oil went up even faster than it did this summer, people would adapt.
Oil dependence isn't a great thing, and I wholeheartedly think that we need to change. The change is not easy, but neither is it a "if government doesn't act the VERY END OF THE WORLD IS NIGH!" situation.
Moses: Be scared of God. Also golden cattle.
Noah: Be scared of rain.
People: Rain? What's that?
Noah: Trust me. It's bad stuff.
Adam: Be scared of the fruit.
Eve: Meh.
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