Are there adults left in Congress?
In Plato's Republic, he describes one of the greatest threats to democracy. That threat centers around the fact that most politicians want to be voted in to office so badly that they will do anything that they think will please voters, even if they know it will be harmful to voters. Unfortunately as Plato says, sometimes politicians need to tell voters what they need to hear, not what they want to hear.
A perfect and very dangerous example of that danger just occurred in congress recently. Congress overwhelmingly voted to stop filling the strategic oil reserve hoping that voters will give them credit for trying to do something to reduce gas prices. Never mind that all experts agree that the minuscule percentage (less then 1 percent) of the oil being purchased by the US and diverted to the reserve has virtually no impact on gas prices. Never mind that we are just one catastrophic event away from $10 gas and a major interruption to our economy. All it takes is one terrorist bomb in Saudi Arabian oil fields, a major hurricane that destroys our oil platforms, or that loon in Venezuela halting oil production because he doesn't like us and we could see a world wide oil and gas panic. The strategic oil reserve was created to protect us from those events. But it only works if it is full.
Our Congress knows all this. And they know that the risk of a world wide oil disruption and the drastic impact that it would have on our economy and the average American is worse now then ever before in our history. But our politicians do not have the courage to tell voters that the risks are real and while the medicine may be bitter, we must invest in our security by keeping the reserve full. But like children, our Congress avoids their duty and responsibility to protect us because they want to be popular by telling voters what they want to hear, not what they need to hear.
I remember waiting hours in gas lines in the 70s. While the strategic oil reserve made those lines less likely, congressional cowardice just made those gas lines more possible. I can not think of a dumber, more irresponsible, and cowardly act from our leaders.
Randall Rossi
Grayslake