This morning, it finally dawned on me as I was enjoying my second to last "drive to work," passing my gas stations that raised prices $.50 cents last nights to a general average of $3.25.
What dawned was...."This is it."
This is the one event that will start a huge domino affect. For the last three decades, after the 1979 gas lines and the Energy Crisis, the debate of energy consumption and conservation has been pretty much the same. The conservatives and Republicans stated the following: 1) Humans can do no long term damage to the Earth; 2) As such, there is no need for cleaner technology or cleaner burning fuel; 3) As such, there is no need for government regulations that punish corporations for pollution emissions or give incentives to corporations that develop clearner alternatives; 4) the price of gas is rising due to environmental regulations and taxes, not because of oil industry greed or lack of supply; 5) we cannot build more refineries because of environmental regulations.
The liberals, environmentalists and Democrats looked at energy in a different way: 1) No resource is unlimited, so eventually we will run out of oil and gas; 2) Oil and gas are polluting the environment, leading to climate changes in the long term; 3) As such, we must now start to conserve our consumption of such fuels and start a massive project to develop new technologies and new cleaner sources of energy; 4) we must use federal dollars for this research and development, for the private industry is currently making a huge profit with the current situation and sees no incentive to take on the cost of the project; 5) the price of gas is rising due to the greed of corporations, lack of supply due lack of refining capacity and lack of the product itself.
The Republicans for years blocked any new idea, any plan to develop new technology. They hung tried and true to their black gold. They went to war twice now for it. No Democratic proposal for energy alternatives was ever taken seriously. Hell, remember the outcry in 1993 over the BTU tax, which would have led to energy conservation?
The Republicans have led America down this road and into this new century blindfolded, all the while whispering into our ear that there was no need to change, and that everything would be allright. What we didn't see, is that they were lifting our wallets from our back pockets while walking us to the cliff.
But the thing is, the elephant was blindfolded too. The Republicans leading us do not want the destruction of the Earth. They do not want the pollution of our lakes, streams, ocean and air. They really do not want gas prices to rise to a point where the economy suffers.
But they are too stupid to even consider long term affects of anything. They are too scared to confront huge challenges. They are too enamored with short term gains and profits. They are too busy looking down at the rewards in their hands to look up at the oncoming train coming down the tracks.
And now we are here. We have just suffered, and are continuing to suffer from the worst Hurricane to ever exist. Not only has Katrina killed hundreds of thousands (why isn't the government not telling us the death counts, why is the official count still at 100 or so?), destroyed one major city (New Orleans) and two smaller ones (Gulfport, Biloxi), not only has she submerged the entire Mississippi delta so that literally maps will have to be redrawn, but she has destroyed the energy infrastructure. That bitch.
But Katrina is not to blame. The Republicans are. We are. We, the American people, have been led down this road, and that is the Republicans' fault. But we too have been naive. Too scared to change ourselves because gas and oil is easy. And now the chickens are no longer coming home to roost. They are here, roosting. The consequence of American's crack whore addiction to the sweet sweet Texas tea is shown around the country.
What is coming next are more struggles.
Gas will reach $5.00.
The Economy will collapse.
Jobs will be lost by the tens of millions.
The Poverty rate will skyrocket.
And all of it could have been prevented years ago if we began to develop alternatives. If the Republicans had not gotten in the way.
But there is not just fear, high prices and pestinence in our futures. Now is the time to develop a true energy alternative plan. President Kennedy said in 1961 that he was challenging America to put a man on the moon in ten years. We did it in 8. There is no logical reason, or illogical reason for that matter, why we cannot develop a new energy source that is clean and relatively cheap in 20.
I am looking to you, Democrats in Washington. It is time. Challenge us. Offer us hope. The American people are scared and panicked this morning. But we are looking for hope. Please, dear God, give it to us.
Finally, I said "second to last" drive to work at the beginning, because starting next week, I take the train everywhere. I will do my part. Democrats, it is time to do yours.