By Steve Thompson, Chairman of the Butte County Republican Party
Keith Miller writes in the History News Network about the incredible importance oil played in our winning of WWII:
Let me begin with a short story. The great tank commander–George S. Patton–found out the hard way how important oil was (in the form of gasoline) to the war effort. His tanks were moving so fast as they approached the Seigfried Line of Germany, they all ran out of gasoline. To get more fuel to the fiery general, as quickly as possible, it had to be airlifted from Normandy. You can read the rest of Miller’s article here .
From Henry Ford’s first Model T, through World Wars One and Two, through boom and bust and boom again, nothing has quite elevated the standard of living and empowered our nation as the refining of crude oil. It has brought incredible advances in the way we live and travel. From harvesters that mass produce the food that feeds the world, to fire engines and ambulances. No matter how you travel, oil played a part in how you got to where you were going. It is the lifeblood of our nation, and of most other nations where more people die from being overweight than being eaten by the wildlife.
Still, it’s safe to say I’d be crossing a lot of modern popular opinion if I said we should honor those who have made our better lives possible, rather than vilify them. Today’s oil industry has become the notorious bad guys, on a par with Big Tobacco, Big Pharma, and maybe Darth Vader (although my son and his friends think Vader is pretty cool). To hear the oil haters, Big Oil creates all of our nation’s misery and suffering while raking in massive profits (profit is evil you know) and laughing at us over their big cigars. Their evil creation (oil) destroys our environment and is absolutely unnecessary unless Al Gore needs it to fly his jet around and harass private masseuses. Popular opinion is that oil is bad for us, and Big Oil is evil. But let’s analyze those notions shall we?
As stated earlier, oil isn’t an evil substance. It’s brought more good to the world, from standard of living advances to empowering the greatest freedom inspiring nation in the history of our planet, than any of the detriments its caused combined. As bad as the current gulf oil spill is, it pales in comparison to the destruction of world freedom that would have ensued had we lost WWII, or that could still happen if we ever lower our guard and weaken our national defense. Oil is a natural substance that comes from the earth. The manmade uses of oil cause less harm to our atmosphere than a single volcano erupting (also a natural occurrence).
To put oil in our cars we need someone to extract the oil and sell it to us. Let’s make it totally clear that NO ONE is going to work on an oil rig for free, and corporations are just groups of investors who want a return on their investments. Take away profit and no one will be there to get the oil for you. Theoretically government could take over the oil industry (seems like something Obama favors) but they would likely run it as poorly as they do everything else and we’d probably have spills every other week and constant shortages at the pump. My argument is, why hate those who have brought us one of the greatest contributing substances to American greatness? Are we that full of self-loathing for our success?
This is also a matter of JOBS. Yeah, I said the J-word that no one in the press wants to bring up when evaluating our current president. Americans want jobs. Oil companies employ over 500,000 people in California alone. We’re already over 12% unemployment and getting worse. Maybe now’s not the time to destroy those who employ us.
So why so much Orwellian hatred of Big Oil? After all, as much as BP is responsible for the current spill, they’re also partly responsible for the election of the anointed one, Barrack Obama (hmm, I may be shooting my own argument in the foot with that one). Oil companies were some of Obama’s largest contributors, something you would think would gain them some credit from political leftists. This is why I call the hatred Orwellian. There’s a purpose to it. Government has to first socially tear down and demonize that which it would seek to take over. Yesterday it was private health care, today it’s big oil, tomorrow it may be your favorite fast food restaurant. Pick your industry, but government, and their friends in the leftist media, will first try to convince you of just how evil these industries are before they push for legislation to socialize it. There is no industry they haven’t looked at with a lust for control and dominance. There is no freedom that those in government haven’t considered taking away from all of us, for that matter.
We as a citizenry need to start taking a rational look at national politics, and stop letting ourselves be led off the cliff by Orwellian diatribe. Oil is still the lifeblood of our nation, for which there is no current and viable alternative that could totally replace it. Until there is, we need to seek realistic answers in how we as a nation procure oil, and how we’re going to treat those who do it for us.
It’s time to tell the Oil Haters to put a sock in it (or a red oil rag) and shut up while we rebuild our economy.