Laying the blame for high gas prices

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By David W. Shelton | May 23, 2008 |

Memorial Day weekend has long held significance for people everywhere: high school graduation, the end of the school year, holiday travel, and high gasoline prices. In 2008, while graduating seniors look toward their future, the rest of us are looking at those gas pumps. As I write this article, the national gas price was at a mind-blowing $3.83 per gallon. Clarksville pumps were as high as $3.80.

We Clarksvillians do love to gripe about how our city government is being run, and we love pointing fingers even more. But where do we point our fingers in blame for these stratospheric gasoline prices?

The first place many of us often look is to those evil oil companies. After all, ExxonMobil netted a profit of $40 Billion (yeah, that’s billion - with a ‘B’) in the first quarter of 2008. Those “evil moguls” just keep sticking it to us, don’t they? Well, of course they do.

“Big Oil” has long since been the bad guys in our current political atmosphere, and they’re often painted as fat-greedy pigs who have their flunkies in governmental power. Oh, we all know the line. “Bush and Cheney are in cahoots with Big Oil, so we’ll get higher prices, blah, blah, blah.”

Before I go any further, I think it’s appropriate for me to point out that I’m usually a little more progressive (read: liberal) than most of my neighbors. So it might come as a bit of surprise that I might have some great amount of disdain for the entire “Big Evil Oil” party line.

I have an equal amount of disdain for the “supply and demand” argument that is spouted by vocal conservatives. “We keep buying it, and they can’t keep up with the demand, blah, blah, blah.” Quite frankly, I’m insulted every time I listen to people from both camps on this critical national crisis.

So which is it? Well, both. And neither. Big Oil has skewered the public, and it’s all about supply and demand, but it’s neither. How’s that for clarity? Okay, maybe I can break it down a little bit. The problem lies with one, singular group of people.

Us.

That’s right. The problem lies with you and me. We’re sheep being led to the slaughter, and as I said before, we’re letting them! Here we are–rational, reasoning human beings–who are allowing “Big Oil” to jack up the prices of oil and gasoline.

It’s really not rocket science. We know that the internal combustion engine is obsolete technology. We know that there are other, more clean forms of energy to be had. But what do we do about it? Here’s a hint: nothing. We’re not doing a damned thing about it.

We’re not demanding alternatives. We’re not making lifestyle changes. We’re not writing our congressmen or senators to pass laws that restrict oil use. We’re not encouraging people to invent clean energy. But what are we doing? Oh, that’s the kicker. We’re blaming everyone else!

“THEY” are holding back the technology. “THEY” haven’t figured out how to charge for clean energy, so it’s not available. “THEY” this. “THEY” that. And then there’s the activists. “THEY” are just a bunch of treehuggers. “THEY” are environmentalist whackos. We all know the lines, don’t we?

Here’s the simple reality: “THEY” have been allowed to rule our lives, and we’re too lazy to get off our own pumps to take hold of our own destiny. After all, it’s so much easier to blame “THEM” and not look into the real cause of our own crisis. The film V for Vendetta includes a line that’s chillingly relevant:

Well certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable—if you’re looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror. — V

Our current crisis goes far beyond the election booth—where our current failed leadership will indeed be held accountable—it goes into our daily lives and our constant consumption of the new great opiate of the 21st century: oil. It’s no longer a means for industrial progress, it’s become a commodity for all parts of our lives.

The reality is that those who are most guilty are each and every one of us who complains, but does nothing. We’ll fill up our large gas tanks and never consider actually reducing how far and how often we drive. We’ll never take the bus. We’ll never carpool. It’s all about our own superiority, isn’t it?

No, my friends. The time has come for action and sacrifice. The time has come for accountability. Let’s put an stop to these incompetent attempts to get oil companies to lower their prices, really. And you know the ones I’m talking about: those “gas-out” days where we send out millions of emails to not buy gas on a certain day. This never works. why? Because we’re still USING the gas. It’s just changing the day we buy it.

The reality is that we’re just not cutting the demand! Cut the demand, and then all of the sudden, the supplies return, and the prices come down. It all boils down to simple individual responsibility. Use less. Drive less. Use green power. Make tough choices. Demand alternatives. USE those alternatives. None of those who are the “THEY” will ever pay attention so long as it’s just a few voices in the wilderness.

It’s only now that we’re realizing that those voices have been right all along, and now we’re faced with the consequences of our inaction. It’s not too late to turn the tide, but we have to be willing to pay the price. How long will it take before we start demanding those alternatives? Months? Years? Do we wait until we see $10 per gallon prices? Do we wait until we’re in a full blown recession?

We can’t afford to wait. We have to act. We have to revolt against our own complacency. Forget ANWR. Forget the Middle East. It’s time to ask ourselves whether or not we’re ready to insist on change from within and from our leadership. We don’t need new sources for oil, we just need to find a way to stop consuming that oil.

Smaller cars. Electric engines. More buses. RIDING the bus when they’re available. WALK. Bicycle. Repair, replace, or add sidewalks (whoops, I went there, didn’t I?). The list goes on and on. But no matter what’s on the list, it requires something from each of us: determination. commitment, and passion.

And finally, it requires action… besides griping at the pump.