Politicians and media pundits keep saying: “Everyone’s so ANGRY about the soaring gas prices.”
Are you angry? I’m not. I don’t know anybody who is, either. Just about everyone I know–myself included–is concerned about gas prices. The concern arises from differing perspectives and for different reasons. Some are angry because they feel the government should have “done something” about “creating alternative energy” decades ago. This would be like being angry at the government for not creating penicillin, the automobile or the stock market sooner than the private sector did. Others are angry that governments–both American and foreign–intervene in or control the market for oil so much that surely it’s more scarce and expensive than it otherwise would be. This anger is valid, although only if you keep in mind that politicians and environmentalists have been doing the bidding of the majority on this subject for decades, such as refusing to explore for oil in the United States. Now the majority are paying a price for what they have demanded their elected leaders do.Only politicians and pundits see unfocused rage about gas prices. I know that sometimes when people are frightened, they become angry. The raging types are the ones who are actually fearful because they have no idea what causes the high cost of oil. They have no concept of supply and demand, and don’t understand how increased demand with diminished supply in a government-controlled market tends to lead to higher prices. Granted, understanding this doesn’t change it unless rational action is proposed–and nobody running for President is proposing rational action (or means it, if he does). At least understanding something tends to make you less fearful and less enraged at unnamed forces who–even if they existed–have nothing to do with the high cost of gas. The enemies are our political leaders. In a democracy, that means the enemy is … most of us, the ones who ordered the elected leaders to subvert the production of energy.