Pay Attention to Our Wake Up Call
By Ron Cogan
It has been more than three decades since the 1970s oil embargo that stunned the nation. The effort to urgently solve America’s impending energy crisis was framed by our President then as the “moral equivalent of war,” but with the exception that “we will be uniting our efforts to build and not to destroy.” Many solid programs emerged from this along with great hope.
But where are we today? It often seems that the road we’ve built to the future goes only as far as the eye can see, but no farther.
When faced with any challenge it’s helpful, if not crucial, to look back for perspective. The thought of this prompts imagery from a time not so long after the oil embargo…an era of long lines at the pump and painful odd-even license plate days that dictated when you had the privilege of filling up.
At the time, the film “Network” offered an unforgettable scene that resonates even now. It was set amid news stories of the day: Inflation was rampant. There was talk of depression. An oil embargo had quadrupled the price of oil…to an unheard of $12 a barrel. Fictional UBS Evening News anchor Howard Beale sat behind the mic and did the unthinkable, angrily and passionately instructing viewers everywhere his national broadcast was being viewed to take action:
“I want you to get mad. I don’t want you to protest. I don’t want you to write to your Congressman because I wouldn’t know what to tell you to write. All I know is that first you’ve got to get mad! I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window and stick your head out and yell, ‘I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!’ Then we’ll figure out what to do about the depression, and the inflation, and the oil crisis.” Amen, Mr. Beale.
And so, here we are. It has been some time since our oil crisis. Yet, we are facing another crisis of sorts now, although the cost of it hasn’t slapped us in the face yet or kept us from taking our kids to school, or driving to work, or filling up when we want to fill up. It is costing us not just in higher prices for the gas we put in our cars every week, but also in national security. Without comfortable reserves and trading partners we can count on to supply the many millions of barrels of oil we need every day, we are that much more vulnerable to the whims of others and the rhythms of world events.
Oil has crossed $100 a barrel for the first time. The national average for a gallon of gas was recently over $3.00 per gallon for regular grade. Some, and rightfully so, would point out this is a very serious wake-up call, especially in light of unfolding world events that reinforce how precarious our situation really is and what could happen to our oil lubricated world in the blink of an eye. Let’s stand up, be counted, and be mad at ourselves for not changing this dynamic long ago. And let’s do something about it.
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