The Oil Spill

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has gener-ated a lot of bad news. The spill is said to be the worst catastrophe of its kind in history. The company responsible for the spill, BP, is receiving much criticism, and rightly so. But who else shares responsibility for this unprecedented environmental disaster?

Let me suggest that the government of the United States, particularly the Department of the Interior, and Americans in general also are to blame.

Let’s begin with the government.

The U.S. government, through the Department of the Interior, granted to BP an offshore lease which permitted the company to drill for oil 5,000 feet below the surface in the Gulf of Mexico. This was done even though the DOI itself admits that drilling for oil even 1,000 feet below the surface is a pretty dicey undertaking, one fraught with risks. So why does our government issue permits to oil companies wishing to drill at those extreme depths?

They issue them because big oil companies, whether domestic or foreign, wield enormous power and influence. In fact, it might be said that their power is exceeded only by the world’s central banks, our own Federal Reserve being among them, when it comes to behind-the-scenes manipulation of the world’s governments and economies.

You see many people--the vast majority, in fact--still fail to recognize that our government is no longer entirely in our hands. It is for the most part in the hands of those who, by hook or by crook, have managed to corner vast quantities of the world’s wealth, thereby gaining for themselves almost limitless power. At the moment, these shady figures prefer to operate behind closed doors and undercover. They get their traitorous work accomplished by purchasing and grooming puppet leaders to fill important offices within government, people on the make who are willing to promote the cabal’s interests while luring ordinary citizens into captivity by offering them a “helping hand” and doing what’s in their “best interest.” How do you suppose, for example, that an obscure nobody like Barack Obama rose from out of the blue to become president of the United States?

But enough said on the government’s unsavory involvement. Now let’s turn our attention to why the American public also is to blame.

The publics’ complicity in this boils down to just one thing: we have an insatiable appetite for oil. Consider this. Daily oil consumption in the U.S. roughly matches the daily combined consumption of the next four leading consumers of oil: China, Japan, Russia and India. And here’s another interesting comparison. The U.S. consumes nearly ten times more oil per day than our neighbor Canada does.

When I was a kid, the average American family owned one car and used it sparingly. Now everyone in a family who possesses a driver’s license owns a vehicle, not to mention all the motor homes, quads, dirt bikes, snowmobiles and watercraft many families also have. Some of these vehicles are on the move day and night.

I would dare say, and I’m sure many would agree, that most Americans wish to continue living in the fashion they’re accustomed to. Most of us, even so-called environmentalists, show little interest in altering our present lifestyle. Therefore our government permits oil companies to reach out further and further into previously unexplored regions of the earth in search of more oil, oil we all are willing to buy and consume voraciously, thus increasing the wealth and influence of corporations that already have us by the throat.

In other words, BP was drilling, and the government was allowing them to, because there is a huge worldwide demand for oil. And without question American consumers are demanding the lion share of it.

So next time a hot surge of righteous indignation towards BP and the mess they’ve created wells up inside of you, remember that you and the government you support also are to blame. And if you really want to make a difference, if you really don’t want to see anymore pelicans smothering in black goo, sell two or three of your automobiles and start taking the bus to work. And put your teenagers on bicycles. They probably could use the exercise.

And one more thing. If we don’t cut back voluntarily, the government will take the opportunity--indeed, jump at it--to create insidious new laws and regulations that will force us to, thereby further undermining the power of the people and expanding the power of the government.

BP screwed up, and it’s going to cost them. It may even fall by the wayside. But in the long run the world’s largest oil companies, like the world’s largest banks, will continue to grow and prosper and consolidate their power and influence, irrespective of any dog and pony shows staged by President Obama and members of Congress.

You can count on it.