Oil Squeeze

As of tomorrow, boys and girls, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will cut production of oil to boost prices. . .which means an increase of gasoline prices. The reaction from both major presidential candidates is disappointing. George W. Bush remains fixated about the tax on gasoline (Republicans can't help but relate everything to taxes) and how it shouldn't be raised one penny, while John Kerry proposes that petroleum earmarked for the national strategic reserve be diverted to the public to cushion the increase in gas prices. Neither one proposed increasing funding for public transportation, or expanding our mass transit network. Neither one proposed conserving gasoline. Nor did either one propose that we drive smaller cars and get rid of our Stupid Useless Vulgarities known as SUVs (although, to be fair, Kerry did propose, with Republican senator John McCain, legislation in March 2002 to raise corporate average fuel economy mandates for cars and light trucks to encourage smaller cars and fewer SUV's - the plan never made it out of the Senate thanks to auto industry and United Auto Workers lobbyists).

The American appetite for oil consumption is unmatched elsewhere in the world, and it's used to prop up our wasteful, bankrupt suburban living pattern of shopping malls, freeways, and oversized houses. In Western European countries and Japan, people live in towns and cities that do not sprawl outward and waste space, allowing them to walk or use public transit, use less oil, and thus be less dependent on oil from the Middle East, where the locals despise, detest, and just plain hate Westerners in general and Americans in particular. The failure of Bush and Kerry to address our selfish living pattern as a cause of our current energy problems does not bode well for an intelligent discussion on changing our behavior in the future. :-(