America's oil addiction: issue #1

Almost every issue mentioned above is either affected directly or indirectly by America’s addiction to foreign oil. We would probably not be in Iraq if it weren’t for their oil fields. It’s hard to say whether the Bush Administration would have still lied to us claiming Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, and that Al-Qaeda was operating there, but I just don’t think we would have had the same interest and urgency to attack if it weren’t for our urgent need to get Iraq’s oil fields producing at top levels, and for us to get at least a foothold into the country so we would have access and some measure of influence over the oil produced there. More than anything, it is those oil fields which has Bush so reluctant to start withdrawing troops, until we have things better under control.

But how could Al-Qaeda be in any way connected to our addiction to foreign oil? Easy, we have been in the Middle East for decades now, supporting puppet regimes and toppling others, playing a dangerous game of cat and mouse, and only because of Middle East oil. If it weren’t for us being there trying to control the region’s politics and plunder its oil reserves, Al-Qaeda and other extremist groups would have little reason to hate us so vehemently. Iran’s nuclear program is connected in the same way, because it is tired of being pushed around by the nuclear powers of the world. It feels that if it can create a nuclear weapon, it will suddenly have a very important seat at the world’s bargaining table. The crisis in Iran started decades ago over oil, and culminated in 1978 and ’79 with the Iranian Hostage crisis as a result of Iran’s revolution. This gave the anti-American and fundamentalist factions the power they needed to control the country’s future direction and brought us to our current crisis.

All of these problems are intertwined because of our need and greed for oil. We use more of the world’s produced oil than we are entitled to, and until recently, the price of it seemed to be within our budget despite minor rumblings each time it went up. During this past decade as Americans forgot the lines at gas stations caused by the oil embargo in the early seventies, the American public has been going out in droves and purchasing gas guzzling SUV’s. This is proof that we just didn’t care, because we could live with the price of gas, and the bigger the SUV the better. Now this country’s automakers find themselves with merchandise they can’t get rid of, production facilities which are making the wrong vehicles, decreased sales that are causing massive layoffs, and even rumors of bankruptcy. Some companies may not survive into the next era which requires them to become major players in America’s need for low cost vehicles which drastically increase gas mileage, and even more importantly cars which use alternative fuels other than petroleum to run their engines.

But nothing can be changed without a huge investment by both the public and private sectors, and there is no quick fix that will actually lower gas prices significantly and over the long term keep them lower. There is no painless solution. America is faced with a crisis which surpasses mere politics, and requires more science, and trillions of dollars worth of investment. America needs a leader who will offer more than gimmicks to save a few cents for a few months, and more than political lip service to the American public. This election, America needs a candidate who is willing to step forward and argue that our addiction to foreign oil and the polluting use of it is the most important factor which threatens the United States’ economics, security, and world standing. Reduce our spending on foreign oil, reduce our presence and interests in the Middle East, and not only do we reduce the importance and severity of many of the problems we face, but at the same time we raise our standing once gain as a world leader. America needs a candidate who can steer our country in a totally new direction, which has never before been perceived seriously, but which is now vital to begin. America needs a candidate who will surround himself with the best in the business of not only military expertise and economic expertise, but also and perhaps most importantly energy expertise who can address this issue with a concrete plan, with concrete goals, realistic steps, a clear projection of the costs to implement those steps, and a funding mechanism to pay those costs. In short, we need a leader who will set a realistic timetable for making our energy needs a domestic policy, beyond the inadequate suggestions of offshore drilling, because if we don’t reduce our need for oil, and we don’t do it soon, we will surely continue to be at the mercy of the current oil producing nations, and more importantly, we will be painfully weakened further.

William S. James, Flying a kite in support of wind power