Posted: Tuesday, June 17, 2008 5:00 pm
An editorial published in The Dalles Chronicle, June 15, 2008
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In case there's an information blackout inside the Beltway, here's a message for Congress: Americans are suffering at the pumps.
The political representatives in Washington, D.C., must not be aware that people in towns large and small across the United States are having to make the choice between food and gas to get to work, or medicine and gas, or a host of other consumer goods and gas.
Surely, if Congress were aware of the damage energy costs are inflicting upon the populace, they would be working a little harder to come up with substantive solutions to these problems.
Surely, they'd understand that the stimulus checks that were supposed to help consumers jump start the economy are going into gas tanks instead.
Surely, they would take their hands out of the oil companies' deep pockets and quit protecting the big corporations that parasitically scraped together $36 billion in profits during the first quarter, most of it out of the shallow pockets of American consumers and businesses.
But if they don't know, they might contemplate a visit to The Dalles. If they do, they'll meet people who can't afford to get to doctor's appointments, have cut back on purchases at local stores, and can no longer afford to drive to volunteer activities.
They'll also meet people who've reached an economic wall and decided it's time to fight back: people who've mothballed their newer fuel-hogs and pulled old economy cars out of the garage, who've stopped elective travel, who are buddying up to save gas money.
These are people who are either tired of Congress' do-nothing, status quo attitude, or simply have no other choice but to cut back.
If congressmen visit The Dalles, they'll find there are a lot more of those people than there used to be.
The American public has endured rising gas prices for a couple of years now. They've watched the price board listings climb above $2, above $3 and now well above $4.
This $4 gas price - approaching $5 for some types of fuel - seems to have pushed the button for more than a few local residents.
And it's high time.
Congress, clearly, has little intent to provide legitimate solutions.
Instead, it plays the political partisanship game, setting up straw man proposals for the other party to knock down. Both sides then have ample opportunity for the party rhetoric they love, without having to lift a finger.
Real change must come at the hands of the consumers and the businesses that are hurt by rising costs. So it's good to see more people taking seriously the idea of reducing their fuel consumption.
If enough people do the same, it can't help but send a message to the oil companies that continue to take their status quo profit margins, and to the commodity speculators who continue to drive up oil prices.
It appears unlikely that Americans can look to biofuels in the near future to solve their fuel cost problems. The fuels are equally as costly as gas, and less efficient. And they're fueling even bigger problems on a global scale.
Conversion of farmland from food to fuel production is leading to worldwide increases in hunger. The problem isn't only for distant, famine-prone regions. The local food pantries are also struggling to meet increased demand from needy families.
Yes, the biofuel initiatives of governments in the United States and the world over, are making the situation worse instead of better.
So it's time for the consumers and businesses hurt by this crisis to take the driver's seat and produce substantive change - to reduce our fuel dependence with smarter, more conservation-minded practices. It may mean a radical rethinking of this global economy, with eyes toward increased local sourcing to limit transportation costs - something that can't be accomplished overnight, but can result in much less dependence on fuels of all kinds. It may mean better orienting our communities toward pedestrians and human-powered vehicles.
While Congress drives in circles inside the Beltway, it's time for the people most affected by this fuel crisis to take the wheel and steer the nation toward real change.