I want to know just what in the hell has gotten into the charlatans of the right-wing echo-chamber that would make them think they benefit by mocking the idea of conservation. Perhaps I am just dense, having taken my education at public schools, but is not conservation a cornerstone of true conservatism? Apparently not, anymore.
And it pisses me off, because I've always considered myself a fairly conservative person - or at least one who aspires to be conservative - or one who conserves - one who first considers the cost, and acts wisely.
But, of course, that is not the case. So-called "conservatism" has come to mean something more radical. To be a conservative, these days, you must define yourself and your ideology by being gratuitously contrarian to your perceived political foe.
Tiresome tires
Of course, what has set me on this particular rant is John McCain and his merry band of miscreants mocking Barack Obama for daring to suggest that perhaps individual Americans could take some control over their own motor fuel costs by simply making sure their tires are properly inflated.
How Dare He?
How dare a candidate for President of the United States actually suggest that in some way Americans might actually do their part to reduce our country's demand for petroleum? How dare a politician ask any of us to lift a finger and take charge of our own destiny in some way or another. Personal responsibility of any sort? BAH!!! Not when there are billionaires waiting for a government subsidy to support a sunsetting industry.
How dare Barack Obama ask that Americans do anything to conserve resources? Doesn't he know that conservation is the bane of the self-appointed "real" conservatives who know much better than the free markets or the scientists or the petroleum engineers, or the geologists? These "conservatives" who have decided to annoint coal, oil, and nuclear (CON) as an everlasting solution to our energy problems?
No, it doesn't matter that Barack Obama has spent countless hours with experts from all of the energy disciplines, and economists. It doesn't matter that he has a comprehensive plan that combines conservation with incentives for renewables. It doesn't even matter that Obama has even taken the fairly un-dogmatic approach of suggesting that he could live with some added off-shore drilling. In fact, they despise that kind of open-mindedness as capitulation.
It's just downright pussified that a candidate for president would stoop so low as to waste a breath on something so ordinary and common sense as a 79 cent tire gauge that could save you 3.3% on your fuel bill. Even if it does cost $66 to fill up the mini-van, no real man would care about saving $2.17 a fill up. No sir. A real man will drive all over town to save 3 cents a gallon. A real man will drive down the new tollway at $3 per day and bitch about paying 18 cents a gallon to build freeways. A real man's man would take that damned tire gauge, pour a gallon of gasoline over it, and set it on fire in protest for such a silly notion.
We Should Know Better.
Yes, we should. We have been trained by these so-called conservatives. Wrong is right, up is down, night is day, and if they're saying it, then it must be the exact opposite of what a prudent government would do:
When the economy is in the shitter, say it's good, then start a war.
When attacked, retaliate against the wrong country. When it hurts the economy, don't ask Americans to do anything but go shopping.
When you're fighting the war, don't raise taxes, lower them. Somehow, lowering taxes brings in more money, and record deficits and national debt prove that.
Big Government™ is bad. Therefore, make it bigger and more intrusive. Government is inherently incompetent, therefore appoint incompetent political hacks to mismanage it.
Promote Democracy around the world, setting the example by chipping it away at home.
The Glorious and Benevolent Holy Spirit of the Free Market® is all-knowing and all-powerful; therefore, we must provide corporate welfaregive alms to it. (Because its angels lobbyists told us to) Democrats are responsible for the current energy crisis, because: - they control Big Oil - They failed to stop Republicans from passing the Enron loophole - They literally forced automakers to sell cars that get shitty gas mileage, even though Republicans, er - I mean "conservatives" wanted improved CAFE standards on new cars. - They think protecting the environment is somehow worthy of setting aside more than a few acres of land on this earth where we can't drill. - Democrats keep stirring up shit in the middle east. Conservatives just want peace and cooperation. Every time a Democrat wants to invade another country full of jibber-jabbering towel-headed brown people, wouldn't you know it, the price of oil goes up another ten bucks.
Not Buying It? I'm certainly not buying it. I don't think most Americans are buying it. You'd have to be drinking a steady supply of that Kool-Aid to buy it. You'd have to listen to a mind-numbingly large amount of talk radio circular logic to buy that shit.
"Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less" makes for a fine trite little slogan that would fit nicely under that "W-04" sticker you still have on the back window of your pick-up, that you'll have to drive a few more years because you can't trade it in. But slogans aren't what we need.
You don't just poke a hole in the ground and get an endless supply of oil the next day. Unless you graduated from Messiah College, you probably learned in school that petroleum is formed under high temperature and pressure from the ancient and microscopic remains of sea life. It took millions of years to get there, and man kind has now pretty much reached the point where not only are there no major new reserves being found, but we can't continue to extract it at the rate we're using it.
Long story short, oil is not sustainable. The human race will have to survive in perpetuity, but at some point in the not too distant future, we will have to do so without oil.
So, knowing that even if we do open up certain federal waters to off-shore drilling, potentially at great peril (anyone remember the Exxon Valdez?) just for the chance that 10 years from now, we can squeeze a small percentage of our demand out into the world market, they still insist it will make a short term difference.
They say it's psychological. Yes, my friends, it's all about psychology.
I'll tell you all about the psychology of it, straight up. - Energy policy is damned complicated. - If voters really think about it too much, their heads will explode. - Instead, right wingers will make a straw-man Democrat to blame. - They'll distract you from the truth of their culpability by wailing about off-shore drilling - They'll make it easy: Oil comes from the ground. Drill a hole, get oil. "Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less". - They will most of all let YOU off the hook by not asking you to sacrifice anything. - You will be asked to believe that you are entitled to never-ending cheap gasoline. - You will be told that there is nothing wrong with your consumption. - You will be told that it will cost nothing to fix the problem, and that it's all in their hands. - They will discredit conservation by claiming it's just a ruse to somehow get control over you.
And having worked all of that psychology, they won't give you any time to question it all before they champion the cause, like they are the protectors of all that is good and holy.
They will do stunts designed to make it look as if they want Congress to reconvene immediately to get this drilling situation resolved. They will blame Nancy Pelosi. And though they will all get a three week summer break, having worked more voting days under Democratic control than they ever had to before, they will each act righteously indignant that "Congress" (meaning the other 434 members, and not themselves) chose not to act immediately to bring oil to market 10 years from now from offshore drilling.
An amount, coincidentally, that just may add up to the savings we could attain by just simply checking our tire pressures.
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I want to know just what in the hell has gotten into the charlatans of the right-wing echo-chamber that would make them think they benefit by mocking the idea of conservation. Perhaps I am just dense, having taken my education at public schools, but is not conservation a cornerstone of true conservatism? Apparently not, anymore.
How Dare He?
Not Buying It?
An amount, coincidentally, that just may add up to the savings we could attain by just simply 
