Do you guys know about Explorer Forum's sister website?
www.drivingmeinsame.com is where a lot of these type of arguments get hashed out, so you might want to carry a political discussion over there.
On the topic of "big oil" and what to do with the cost of fuel, however, there are a couple of things that we need to consider. For instance, it is oil companies -- yes, for profit -- that have made it possible for us to stop at a station that they have built, pull up to a pump that they have installed, and fill up our tanks with fuel that they have found, processed, shipped, and provide. I don't see our government providing an equal service... I also don't see environmentalists providing an equal service.
So, at the end of the day -- for me at least -- I see oil companies as an ally in my life versus an enemy. They deserve to make a profit for the service they provide, and the more profit they make, the more service they will provide up to the point where the consumer stops utilizing that service because they cannot afford it any longer.
I'm thinking that we're at that point right now, for the use of fuel has dropped radically, and the oil companies themselves, in their desire to continue profitable levels of operation, will figure out a way to lower prices to keep on selling their product.
A couple of other thoughts...
We cannot "grow" our way into energy independence. We need our farm land for food production, and even if we used every acre for fuel crop production, we would still not even make a dent in the actual amount of fuel we used in the USA every day. But meanwhile, food costs would go through the roof, more than offsetting what it costs to fill our tanks. We can live with less driving, but we cannot live without food! We are already going to see a RADICAL shift in food costs this year. In my local Kroger, smallish bags of lettuce are now selling for over $5. They were under a dollar a little while ago. We used to get sweet corn at between $1 and $2 a dozen -- now it is 2 ears for $1. Yet, I see corn being pumped through fuel processing plants all over the mid-west.
People cite Brazil, yet they fail to recognize that Brazil is cutting down the Amazon jungle to make room for fuel crops. For the sake of their own nation's energy independence, they may be sacrificing one of the most important ecological systems in the world.
Additionally, while oil companies are making windfall profits from oil, so is the government. Our government makes much more profit per gallon of gas than the oil companies do, and the government doesn't do a single thing to actually put a drop of gas in your tank (except to so tightly regulate drilling and refineries that getting MORE oil to the tank is almost impossible). But, even here there is a trade-off. If we buy less fuel, there are less $$$ going into the coffers that provide funds to repair roads and bridges. Somehow it always ends up back in the lap of the citizen.
Finally, the biggest reason for the current price rise is speculation -- called "futures" in market lingo. People are buying up the rights to oil production and reselling those rights at a profit. That is where the BIG BUCKS get turned. The way to bust the futures market, which seemingly cares little for the man on the street, is to simply make a resolution to drill any and every pocket of oil, build new refineries, etc., on American soil, which will drop the bottom out of the speculation market almost immediately. Those that say that it would take 10 years or more to make a difference don't understand market economy at all -- it isn't having gas at the pump that drives futures, it is the
threat of lowering demand. No one wants to hold a whole bunch of paper on oil that will soon be worth only half of what they paid for it!
Until some of the stuff above starts to happen, our nation will be radically changed, and even when it happens, we'll never go back to the way it was before. And, in the mean time, we're likely to elect some folks, based on PROMISES that they will NEVER be able to deliver that will only make the situation worse, not better.