So Now What?
My first reactions to this my "Oh Crap" moment were guilt and shame, followed up with an anger chaser. Yes, I have been told that we are running out of oil, just as I have been told that the hydrocarbon emissions are wreaking serious havoc on our atmosphere - It's one thing to know these things and quite another to know these things, if you follow. The problem is that these impending crises are treated more as a footnote rather than as a main subject, because the notion of radically changing our materialistic American lifestyle is not a popular topic in most circles (Why, now that's Commie-talk!).
To hear Bush tell us that we are addicted to oil and then not offer any leadership (Much less a tangible plan) for solving the problem is not for our own benefit. It is positioning for himself to be able to say "I told you so" later without having to deal with the problem now. He's protecting his legacy instead of us.
In my adulthood I have journeyed across the American political spectrums, and my passions have ranged from a "Just leave me alone" brand of ignorance to a "Somebody (other than me) should do something" type of caring to "A pox on both your houses" attitude of political withdrawl.
If you think about politics in America long enough you're bound to have an "Oh Crap" moment there too. It's all about popularity. Not a lot of Americans are going to vote for someone who tells them that they need to stop driving, to stop buying junk from overseas and to begin preparing to live a lot more localized sustainable existence. To survive in American politics you need to be a good whistler, because there are a lot of graveyards out there. Or, to paraphrase Richard Dreyfuss from the movie "Jaws," "We are going to ignore this particular problem until it swims up and bites us on the ass."
All this talk brings to mind 1 Corinthians 2:
"your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God."
I don't know what type of insight I will be able to offer on the subjects of Peak oil and the inevitable decline in American lifestyle that will result from it. Right now I am calmly trying to dispel the knee-jerk reaction of thinking that the sky is going to fall tomorrow, so that when I do write about it I won't sound like a raving lunatic.
To hear Bush tell us that we are addicted to oil and then not offer any leadership (Much less a tangible plan) for solving the problem is not for our own benefit. It is positioning for himself to be able to say "I told you so" later without having to deal with the problem now. He's protecting his legacy instead of us.
In my adulthood I have journeyed across the American political spectrums, and my passions have ranged from a "Just leave me alone" brand of ignorance to a "Somebody (other than me) should do something" type of caring to "A pox on both your houses" attitude of political withdrawl.
If you think about politics in America long enough you're bound to have an "Oh Crap" moment there too. It's all about popularity. Not a lot of Americans are going to vote for someone who tells them that they need to stop driving, to stop buying junk from overseas and to begin preparing to live a lot more localized sustainable existence. To survive in American politics you need to be a good whistler, because there are a lot of graveyards out there. Or, to paraphrase Richard Dreyfuss from the movie "Jaws," "We are going to ignore this particular problem until it swims up and bites us on the ass."
All this talk brings to mind 1 Corinthians 2:
"your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God."
I don't know what type of insight I will be able to offer on the subjects of Peak oil and the inevitable decline in American lifestyle that will result from it. Right now I am calmly trying to dispel the knee-jerk reaction of thinking that the sky is going to fall tomorrow, so that when I do write about it I won't sound like a raving lunatic.
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