As we head into the Fourth of July weekend of patriotic bluster and beer swilling -- but before we are too besotted with ourselves -- might we also for once consider our imperfections? Why not take a moment to heed the cautions of our founding father, George Washington, whose true legacy will most likely be ignored during the flag-waving weekend?
Washington's "Farewell Address" to the new nation was a warning about the threat of American imperial ambitions and a declaration of his high expectations for a republic of free men: "In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of an old and affectionate friend, I dare not hope they will make the strong and lasting impression I could wish; that they will control the usual current of the passions, or prevent our nation from running the course which has hitherto marked the destiny of nations. But, if I may even flatter myself, that they may be productive of some partial benefit, some occasional good; that they may now and then recur to moderate the fury of party spirit, to warn against the mischiefs of foreign intrigue, to guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism. ..."
We are drowning in the "impostures of pretended patriotism," used to cover the lies that got us into Iraq, the defense of torture and the violation of our basic liberties. In the name of patriotism, we presume a God-given American right to reorder the world to our liking, masking the vice of unfettered greed as an obligation of national security.
Any doubts as to this later governing impulse of our imperial ambitions were shattered with the recent news that U.S. advisers to our puppet government in the Green Zone of occupied Iraq have worked out agreements for American oil companies to gain control of Iraqi oil fields. But, then again, what did we expect when we elected a Texas oil hustler, and a failed one at that, to be our president?
Only in an America dumbed down by constant propaganda about our innate moral superiority will anyone any longer believe that we didn't invade Iraq for the oil, even though Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice came to the Bush administration from the board of directors at Chevron, where they named an oil tanker after her. Like Vice President Dick Cheney with those Halliburton contracts, Rice has stayed true to her corporate sponsors. That's what the U.S. invasion of Iraq accomplished; for the first time in more than three decades after Iraq joined a worldwide trend of formerly colonized nations gaining control of their own resources, Big Oil is getting its black gold back. It was always about the oil -- that's why "we" invaded Iraq -- only "we" aren't getting any, at least not at a reasonable price. The oil companies are.
I know it's difficult for the corporate media and politicians, both fueled generously by energy money, to grasp the distinction, but we the people and they the oil companies are not one and the same. While we suffer at the pump, they make record profits, which is the way they like it. Don't think for a second that U.S. oil companies are rushing into Iraq to expand production to help lower world oil prices, thus making their investments less profitable. They just want to be on the winning side, which is why the CEO of Halliburton relocated his office from Texas to the United Arab Emirates, where I am certain he and his fellow corporate expatriates are able to happily celebrate the Fourth of July.
So, take that American flag off your lapel and replace it with a button bearing the Exxon or Chevron logo. C'mon, Dick Cheney and Condi Rice, be straight about what it is you are really pushing here. 'Fess up -- it's not the good old USA as represented by the sucker taxpayers conned by your patriotic blather. No sirree, what you would have Americans paying homage to is the majesty of the big multinational corporations that exploit American military power to rule the world.
But recognize that you have shamed the legacy of our first president. George Washington, who distinguished the promise of the new world from the corruptions of the old by shunning imperial conquest, said: "Our commercial policy should hold an equal and impartial hand; neither seeking nor granting exclusive favors or preferences; consulting the natural course of things; diffusing and diversifying by gentle means the streams of commerce, but forcing nothing."
If Barack Obama or John McCain was to offer such words of wisdom this Fourth of July, he would be vilified as "weak," and that is a fit measure of just how far we have descended from the high hopes of our first president.
Robert Scheer is the author, most recently, of "The Pornography of Power: How Defense Hawks Hijacked 9/11 and Weakened America," published by Twelve Books.
Second, conservation and efficiency gains are JUST as important as increasing the supply of energy! Just like water conservation and efficiency gains effectively increases the amount of water that is present, when you decrease the amount of energy that you waste, you REDUCE the percentage of energy that you USE. Mathematically, this is the same as INCREASING the supply of energy!
And finally, there is no real evidence that the high cost of energy is tied to supply and demand, and a large amount of evidence that it IS tied to a combination of price gouging by the energy suppliers, AND speculation by those who have no cause to be in the energy market!
On your second point, all I'm saying is that the ever increasing demand of energy and resources is going to overwhelm any attempts at conservation and gains in efficiency. The evidence for this is the current marketplace. We have made tremendous strides in the efficiency of cars, houses, lightbulbs, etc, however this is small potatoes compared to the rapid increase in demand we have recently seen. Look at the yearly charts for wheat, corn, steel, coffee, natural gas, heating oil, crude oil. All have seen dramatic increases in the last year. It is just not oil that has been going up dramatically. It is simply about supply and demand, plus the weakening of the dollar, but that is another story. Finally, Congress has investigated price gouging on numerous occasions and repeatedly have found no evidence to support it. As far as speculation, sure speculators are involved in this market, they are involved in all markets, but they are not the root cause of the problem. We need to increase supply and decrease demand where we can without sacrificing economic growth.
Unless McCain and Bush are planning to nationalize "our" oil companies in order to steer "our" ANWR reserves into "our" market, ANWR and all offshore drilling will be sold to the highest bidder, and the additional volume they would bring to the markets would be a pimple on OPEC's backside.
Destroying Florida's tourist industry or Alaska's last frontier would benefit China's gluttonous growth. Remove the oil companies' embargo of lithium ion battery technology to increase hybrid and electric vehicle use would create a local glut of oil and gas, driving down prices while slowing global climate change.
But the "let's drill 'our' outer shelve to reduce 'our' prices" crowd is either delusional or lying.
before they manage to start another action in Iran.
Phil Gramm, Richard Lugar and Tom Delay. Why are they not reversing that policy and getting the
price of a barrel of oil below $ 50 again? Because they make money! Nothing will be done until
the election where the DEMS (and I am a Democrat) can blame it on the GOP. It is a game.
I heard today that the US is selling arms to IRAQ, how stupid is that when we have a war going on.
Imagine having sold arms to Hitler while the fighting was going on. I can only say it is all a game,
they keep us stupid so they can enrich themselves. And the press is too scared to print the
truth we already suspect but we are called "conspiracy mongers."
"We" didn't get all the oil we needed during the oil embargo of the 70s.
Since then "we" have made Saudis Kuwaitis Iraqi and Abu Dhabi and Qatar our allies
so oil embargo is no longer is possible. This is a major achievement. Now lets kick out Bush and begin drastic reduction in oil use. Beginning with introducing a 40% tax on vehicles that don't meet a 25MPG standard and building more public transportation.
And let OPEC gorge on their own oil. Let see how far they get on China and Indian demand.
And I certainly wouldn't threaten OPEC too much with walking out as a customer (apart from the fact that we couldn't even if we wanted to). Even if the US stopped all the oil imports from OPEC countries, it would probably not make a huge dent into OPECs finances. Europe and Asia would immediately make up for the US shortfall at quite reasonable prices around $80-100/barrel. In the meantime Canadian and Mexican oil would trade around probably $400/barrel in the US.
No one is ( or could be) walking out on OPEC product just yet.
However, reducing petrol. use is an important priority.
Europe is already working hard to reduce petrol. use.
Arguably, if U.S. kicks it up a notch ( or ten), you will see a reduction in price, provided that some regulation is introduced into trading of this commodity.
Yes, you did. But the nation as a whole did not. And now it has to do in a few short years what normally takes decades.
However, there are quite a few folks in America--regular folks, not CEO's--who, underneath it all, think it was just fine for "us" to invade Iraq so "we" could secure control of their oil. They realize that the purpose of the mission must be concealed under a smoke cloud of freedom, democracy and patriotism, so they don't admit the true purpose, but they understand it nevertheless.
What these folks fail to realize is that they aren't benefitting from control of Iraqi oil in any way, shape or form. "We"--the American public--aren't gaining anything. Oil companies and their CEO's are reaping the benefits. "We" are merely footing the bill--on the front and rear ends.
That's the trouble with smokescreens--with a network of lies. They not only deceive the screen-ee. They also deceive the screen-er.
I hate to be the one to have to tell you, but, you've been had.
Without a frame of realistic reference around your rhetoric, you risk sounding like an old parrot.
Sincerely,
The lefties
I as one of the lefties would like to welcome your input into conversations and debates about events and news stories here on the Huffpo, but please show a little respect and at least try to make lucid comments. It looks like you typed that comment with your two index fingers flying while sweat dripped from your brow and you shook with seething rage.
If you really think we went to war because our government cares about the common people of this country or some other country, then say so and include in a real fact or two not just talking points. By the way, I vehemently disagree.
Have a nice day.
See the USA in a Chevrolet, Put a Tiger in your tank, We bring good things to life and on and on and on.
Somewhere in there the powers that be also managed to stagnate the public educational system. A stupid population is more easily swayed by wine and circus. Or Starbucks and American Idol.
The French revolution was contagious throughout Europe and for the same reason. The governed got disrespect until it nearly killed them and destroyed their dreams of a better life for themselves and their families. I agree with BBackSoon too.
Nevertheless you make a good point. GWB warned us. "Fool me once, shame on me, Fool me twice, er, can't get fooled again." We didn't listen and now we're hosed. The American public shares responsibility, but like the tiger in it's cage or the human batteries in the Matrix, there's not very much they can do while they have the proper blinders/restraints on.
It seems like an undeclared world war for oil that we are in the midst of. Elites on various sides want to control it. The American public has been counted upon to keep paying the price to maintain the structure. That reliance is likely to break down, until we get the Iraqi oil on stream just prior to our election.
But there's another aspect that needs to be dissected and defused. While it is true that "They understand how to manufacture hate and fear and divisiveness," it is also true that the war-mongers among us truly feel hate and fear and a need to fight to the death to defeat "the enemy." Fear and loathing of "evil forces" in the guise of foreign faces is deeply embedded in the American and European character, and is codified in religious and philosophical beliefs. There is a deep strain of existential dread of succumbing to Satanic "others" and a sense that mutual self-destruction is preferable to enslavement by...fill in the blank: communists, negroes, muslims, libruls, homos, humanists, pacifists, hippies, females, etc. etc. Such mind-cluttering phobias cloud thought processes and lead to self-delusion and mass manipulation by propagandistic deceptions, all for the greater good of defeating the evil that lurks in the dark psyches of those unfamiliar faces.
So this armed robbery of Iraqi oil is not just to increase the quarterly revenues of the oiligarchy, it is also to deny this essential liquid energy, considered vital to the capacity to wage war, from the evil ones who threaten the American Way Of Life with their murderous and treacherous intentions.
9/11 supplied the excuse, the media supplied the phoney baloney cover story, the army supplied the muscle, the american people supplied the patriotic fervor and yellow ribbons bumper stickers on their cars, and the oil companies went in and got what they coveted: control of more oil to sell to China, India, and oh, yes, America too. At premium prices!
Time for a Declaration of OIL Independence.