High Gas Prices: We Need Options NOT Federal Regulation!
Bill Falzett III
June 20, 2008
When I was a young man my father advised me to be careful in doing things that might limit my options, and to be open to opportunities for creating more options. He counseled that options are power; they give us choices in how we can act and respond to situations. When we have limited options, we can become trapped into a narrow range of actions and behaviors. We are in a weakened position. It is sort of like the notion of painting oneself into a corner; there is simply nowhere to go from there! Though we often disagree, he was right on about this. In looking back over my life, the times when I had limited options were the times I felt the least in control of my fate. They were depressing times of helplessness and fear. I'll bet you can think of just such situations in your own life. I lifted myself out of those tough times by using his advice, and taking decisive action to open up more options, thereby regaining control of my life and my fate.
This principle is re-affirmed again and again in one form or another in every self-help program since the beginning of time. Self-help gurus expound the virtues of things like "The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People", strategies to "Awaken the Giant Within", and "How to Win Friends and Influence People". They preach about finding meaning, living with passion, and reaching beyond our current situation. The key principle to all these programs is using positive and immediate action to create new opportunities and options. They invariably tell us to do something, do anything, but do something to shake up the equilibrium. This positive action gets us moving, opens up options, gives us choices, and generally changes our personal inertia from a body at rest, living in depression and fear, to a body in motion, moving forward, advancing, and seizing the day.
Since the early 1980s, our federal government has limited the exploration, drilling and mining of domestic fossil fuel resources in deference to environmental concerns. This policy has limited our options among fuel sources, made us dependent on countries in unstable regions of the world, and subjected us to the whims of hostile dictators and unfriendly regimes. We now face a situation in which gas prices are spiraling out of control, food prices are following, and we are fearful and depressed about what the future holds. At this critical time, Americans would do well to follow the advice of the self-help experts, and take positive action to create more options.
I am excited to report there is currently just such a positive movement afoot. The goal is to influence our federal government to remove restrictions that limit domestic energy production, including off-shore exploration and drilling, shale oil production, drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and clean burning coal technology. If successful, this movement will give our nation more energy options, reduce our dependence on foreign oil and help us regain control of our energy future. Success depends on the support of concerned citizens nationwide. You can have a voice and show your support by doing a few simple things:
Visit the website www.americansolutions.com to learn more about how our misguided energy policy is hurting us.
Sign the Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less! petition urging our elected officials to take action.
Contact your Your Congressional Representative to urge them to participate in this movement.
Tell Everyone in your sphere of influence your concerns and how you believe we can make a difference.
There are nay-sayers who complain that any new domestic exploration and drilling will not have an impact on our gas prices for years, maybe decades. Assuming for a moment this is correct, is it not the responsibility of our elected officials to plan for those years ahead, whether they be 5 years or 20 years down the road? We rely almost exclusively on fossil fuels to power all modes of transportation, commercial, industrial and personal. There is currently no practical viable alternative to replace this usage to any significant degree. The bottom line is that our economy will be dependent on fossil fuels for decades to come. A failure to plan and provide for this certainty is irresponsible and further limits our options.
In parallel to this American Solution, engineers and scientists will be at work on other options to wean us off fossil fuels. I read of one a few days ago who is working on microbes that consume garbage and produce crude oil as metabolic waste. These projects are absolutely essential to broaden our long term options, but they will most likely come with their own set of environmental and idealogical challenges. In any event, rest assured that as soon as there is a practical alternative to fossil fuels, cagey capitalists will be lining up to find a way to market it for profit, while others are finding ways to regulate and tax it.
For now, please join me in taking this action to hold our government accountable. Lets return the fate of America to American hands, and put ourselves in a position to tell the Saudis, Ahmadinejad and Chavez to go pound sand!
This principle is re-affirmed again and again in one form or another in every self-help program since the beginning of time. Self-help gurus expound the virtues of things like "The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People", strategies to "Awaken the Giant Within", and "How to Win Friends and Influence People". They preach about finding meaning, living with passion, and reaching beyond our current situation. The key principle to all these programs is using positive and immediate action to create new opportunities and options. They invariably tell us to do something, do anything, but do something to shake up the equilibrium. This positive action gets us moving, opens up options, gives us choices, and generally changes our personal inertia from a body at rest, living in depression and fear, to a body in motion, moving forward, advancing, and seizing the day.
Since the early 1980s, our federal government has limited the exploration, drilling and mining of domestic fossil fuel resources in deference to environmental concerns. This policy has limited our options among fuel sources, made us dependent on countries in unstable regions of the world, and subjected us to the whims of hostile dictators and unfriendly regimes. We now face a situation in which gas prices are spiraling out of control, food prices are following, and we are fearful and depressed about what the future holds. At this critical time, Americans would do well to follow the advice of the self-help experts, and take positive action to create more options.
I am excited to report there is currently just such a positive movement afoot. The goal is to influence our federal government to remove restrictions that limit domestic energy production, including off-shore exploration and drilling, shale oil production, drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and clean burning coal technology. If successful, this movement will give our nation more energy options, reduce our dependence on foreign oil and help us regain control of our energy future. Success depends on the support of concerned citizens nationwide. You can have a voice and show your support by doing a few simple things:
Visit the website www.americansolutions.com to learn more about how our misguided energy policy is hurting us.
Sign the Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less! petition urging our elected officials to take action.
Contact your Your Congressional Representative to urge them to participate in this movement.
Tell Everyone in your sphere of influence your concerns and how you believe we can make a difference.
There are nay-sayers who complain that any new domestic exploration and drilling will not have an impact on our gas prices for years, maybe decades. Assuming for a moment this is correct, is it not the responsibility of our elected officials to plan for those years ahead, whether they be 5 years or 20 years down the road? We rely almost exclusively on fossil fuels to power all modes of transportation, commercial, industrial and personal. There is currently no practical viable alternative to replace this usage to any significant degree. The bottom line is that our economy will be dependent on fossil fuels for decades to come. A failure to plan and provide for this certainty is irresponsible and further limits our options.
In parallel to this American Solution, engineers and scientists will be at work on other options to wean us off fossil fuels. I read of one a few days ago who is working on microbes that consume garbage and produce crude oil as metabolic waste. These projects are absolutely essential to broaden our long term options, but they will most likely come with their own set of environmental and idealogical challenges. In any event, rest assured that as soon as there is a practical alternative to fossil fuels, cagey capitalists will be lining up to find a way to market it for profit, while others are finding ways to regulate and tax it.
For now, please join me in taking this action to hold our government accountable. Lets return the fate of America to American hands, and put ourselves in a position to tell the Saudis, Ahmadinejad and Chavez to go pound sand!
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