Garbanzo Toons

Bad Americans Must be Punished

Let's face it, most people's thinking reflects the Bush administration's, and, as a result, the majority can't care less about the deaths due to air pollution, national security or the potential for catastrophic global warming when they purchase vehicles. The purchase and operating price are far more important.

So I am disappointed to see the price of gasoline come down and patiently await the day when gas will cost $5 per gallon or more, as it will in the near future. Only then will consumers start rejecting gas guzzlers and begin demanding and buying fuel-efficient vehicles. Only then will we begin to seriously confront climate change and our country's energy security.

That was a letter in today's Free Press. Apparently, we who drive are destroying the world. The person who wrote this letter must reside in a cave and live off the land, only eating raw food and wearing only skins from animals he himself killed so that he doesn't have to light a fire which would pollute the air. How did his letter get to the Free Press? He must have walked to their offices and dictated it. That way he wouldn't have to contribute to environmental degradation by the use of an electricity-using computer, or by sending a letter, the paper on which it was written causing the needless destruction of trees, and who knows what chemicals are in the ink? Not to mention exhaust from the mail trucks that would have had to carry the letter.

The letter is in response to a column by Tom Walsh.

Leuliette told me Tuesday he believes progress is being made with key members of Congress. "Energy policy is moving up in importance on the list of topics for the 2008 presidential campaign," he said.

It's critical, he added, that falling gas prices not be allowed to defuse the sense of urgency for new energy solutions.

"No other town in the country suffers more than Detroit from lack of an energy policy," he said. That's because drivers in the United States spend only 30% to 40% of what consumers elsewhere in the world spend for gas; that means that in recent decades Detroit's automakers have focused mostly on developing large trucks and SUVs for which there is no demand anywhere else in the world. This gives Japanese and European carmakers, which have lots of experience developing vehicles for $5-a-gallon gasoline markets, an edge in a future world of higher oil prices.

Leuliette has been a vocal supporter of hydrogen as the transportation fuel of the future. But his more important push is for a series of gas tax increases, 10 cents a year, that would nudge American gas prices closer to the world norm and force the U.S. government to adopt a real energy strategy.

What really matters is that our country -- government in tandem with industry -- go all out to accelerate development of these technologies. Otherwise, we remain vulnerable to goofballs running Iran, Venezuela and who-knows-where next.

Yes, the United States does need an intelligent energy. Yes, we absolutely must wean ourselves off of foreign oil. The best way to do that though, is to stop demonizing the oil companies and start allowing greater investment in domestic oil sources. We know they're there. If we are really interested in keeping our economy humming along and stop supporting jihad, we have all of the ingredients right here in North America.

According to Mr. Walsh, the letter writer, and other anti-capitalists, we Americans must be punished for our wealth and our success in creating a thriving economy. According to their environmentalist plans, our economy must cease humming along. If Mr. Walsh and others are so concerned that we stupid Americans are destroying the planet through our wealth-enhancing ways, they too can go live in a cave. In the meantime, shut up and leave the rest of us alone.

For more on the subject, go to American Digest.

Labels: environment, gas prices

posted by Harry @ 7:21 PM