I got to thinking yesterday on the way to work. Gas prices in our area have reached $2.69 or thereabouts. Now, for some of you, that may not be a lot, but for an area with a median income of $31,210, it is quite a bit. So, seeing that, and based on the gas price rising steadily, and at a high rate over the past couple of years, I got to thinking more about the war that we are in with the terrorists. Personally, I think we need to be in the war, and we need to take care of the terrorists before they take care of us, but we may be failing to see what we are really up against.
That being said, I think we have played right into the hands of what the terrorists wanted. They cannot stand us, and they want to bring us to our knees. They are also very patient, and very methodical in everything they do. I don't think that they could bring us to our knees militarily. Yes, they'll win some battles, but not the war. Not in the case of who has the stronger military. They could never win that, and they know it. So, how can they beat us? They can beat us from within.
I'm not talking about them blowing up a school or numerous buildings, or anything like that. I am talking about them beating us, by having us beat ourselves. They know we are "The Land of the Free", and as such, we take great pride in our freedom. So much to the point that we tolerate most anything. In our great land, you can do what you want, and think what you want. But along with that comes a lot of debate, and arguing, etc, etc. So what do the terrorists do to bring us down? They need to divide us to conquer us. They attack us, and we are united. For a time. But now, that united feeling has subsided, and our pride is taking over once more. Just like the terrorists wanted. We start a war with them. Just what they wanted. They know they can't win the war, but they know they can drag it on for a long time. Look at the war with Israel. They have been fighting one another for centuries.
So, we are in a war that we know is going to last for a long time. Our enemy is very patient, and very methodical. And as a result, we have a divide coming across the country. We are the "Land of the Free", afterall, and everyone has an opinion. The war drags on, and as it does, the oil companies fear the price for oil is going to rise drastically. It has risen some, so they start to raise prices. People start complaining, and start to place blame. The blame goes to the one who started the war, the President. His administration works harder to try and end the war sooner, but that hastiness causes mistakes to be made. More lives lost. More of an outcry in our country. We want our troops home sooner. Things get more tense over in Iraq. More unrest, and more terrorist attacks. Attacks pop up elsewhere, in other countries. The unrest continues, and the gas prices continue to raise.
Now, where am I going with all of this? Well, as you can see, this cycle of unrest, public outcry, and economic uncertainty is going to continue. And as it does, the price for gas will rise. And as the price of gas rises, so do consumer products. Consumer products we need. Our food and clothing and essentials rise. All of these items rely on gas for transporting them to each of us all over the country. Eventually, prices are going to get so high that we cannot afford our essentials.
And at that point, we fall. Just like the terrorists wanted from the beginning. All of this with very little effort on their part. We have done it to ourselves.
Think about it.
3 comments:
You are so right kordalian. It seems so many today feel responsibility is for someone else. Everything wrong in the world is someone else's fault, someone else's responsibility. No one wants to have to deal with the consequences of their actions.
I was reading the other day that some of the women who took the abortion pill RU-486 have now died from mysterious health problems. They didn't want to take responsibility for their actions. They simply wanted it to just go away. And now they paid for it. It's sad, but regardless of if one wants to admit that their actions have consequences, those actions do have consequences, and it will all come out in the end, whether in ths life, or on Judgement Day.
Now granted, the war in Iraq is part of the picture, but it's far from the whole picture. Other forces are in play here as well. Perhaps, the fact that (thanks in part to mass outsourcing from the US) the Chinese. Their economy is gowing to the point where many people who could not afford cars there before are now buying them. All those extra cars on thier roads are sucking up just that much more gas (and, hopefully, we all know how massive China's population is), and the problem is only going to get worse as more and more demand is created.
Also, I read recently that none of the companies in the US have built new refineries in the past 30-years or so (not 100% sure on the validity, but seems believable to me). Basically, from what I gathered from the read, we cannot refine enough to keep up with the demand in our own country.
There are other things I've read recently as contributing factors, but you get the idea.
In any case, it's kind of sad to think that gas has TRIPLED since I left the service 7 years ago. I remember the last time I left the base and paying $0.89/gal. I JUST paid $2.63/gal myself (although the other 2 stations on the same street are at $2.69), for a grand total of $27.80.
Since you know I commute about an hour to work 3 days a week, you know I'm definitely feeling the costs.
To top it all off, with the increased purchase price of the so-called hybrid cars on the market now, I recently heard of a study that only found 1 (ONE) of the models that actually saved money in the long run, compared to similary featured non-hybrids.
Damned if you do, damned if you don't. :@
Yeah, I saw something similar about the hybrids... I think the one that saved money over the course of 5 years. Total savings? $8 dollars. Now, THERE's an incentive.
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