The best way to get a person, or group of people, to see things your way is, like guerilla warfare, to do surgical strikes against key targets. Philosophically, what that means is that if you and I have dramatically opposing views on a subject matter, it is pointless for me to try to convince you of your view being wrong and mine being right. I will lose that fight as surely as you will (unless, of course, one of us does not have the conviction to uphold our view). However, if I want you to have a paradigm shift to my perspective, I will have regular debates with you on topics related to each of our perspectives, but only those topics which lean more to my point of view. Over several debates, fighting the battles I strategically placed myself to win, your resistance to my ideas will be dramatically reduced and may even be mitigated.
Back to our beloved oil companies. For those of you who don't know, they are currently showing record profits and are projecting continued profits over the next several quarters. Ask yourself how we got to this point? All Bush-Big Oil conspiracies aside (I'm not saying they don't exist, but I like to put responsibility where it really lies), let us ask ourselves what we've done to mitigate this rise in fuel prices. Considering the aforementioned rise in prices, ask yourself, what would have happened in 2003 if Big Oil had bumped the prices from $1 to $4. There would have been open revolt. But, since they did it incrementally, they accomplished their goals. Raise the prices until the community becomes outright pissed. Then lower the prices just enough to quell the raging masses. Once the paradigm had shifted ($1 to $1.50 as a fair price), start raising the prices again, repeating the raise-lower practice until the price is almost $4 a gallon. How much further will we go? (I predict that, given their ingenious practice, they could raise the price indefinitely.)
It's a simple equation of supply and demand. If we stop our gluttonous consumption of petrol, then it demonstrates a fall in demand. As the fall in demand drops while the supply remains constant, the price drops. If the American community holds out long enough, the prices will return to normal. But it takes a unified approach. One person, or one city will not make enough of a difference. So, who is to blame? We are. Insurance companies show that most accidents happen within 5 miles of the house. Many say it's because as we get closer to home we become more complacent. But what if we conducted our own little experiment, setting the trip meter to our daily destinations. How many would only find that most of their destinations were within 5 miles of their homes?
I like to take my dogs to the doggie park. They're so cute when they get to play with others. I finally got the distance and it's 5.3 miles away. I run 4 miles each morning. We road march from 6-12 miles at work. At a relaxed pace of 2.5 miles per hour, it would take around 2 hours to get there. An hour for them to play, and another 2 hours back. Or, if you're like me and like to hurry up and get there, about 1-1/2 hours. But the thought of exertion is so repulsive that our country now suffers an 80 percent obesity rate. How far is it to the grocery store? I remember walking to the store with my Mom when I was a boy. Cars were expensive and the fam only had one, which Dad took to work.
My point here has specifically targeted the petroleum companies and the exorbitant price of fuel. I want to see a change, not only in consumption, but in price. I hate the government-big oil relationship that does exist. But the solution does not come from the hands of politicians who are ever so willing to take credit. The solution for our current global problems all come from our willingness to demand change and to sacrifice for it. Nothing is free. You will pay in either freedom, coin, or effort, listed in this order because it is the path of least resistance; most will sacrifice freedom and coin before committing effort.
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