Pain At The Pump

by The Editors

What will it take to get our nation to take the issue of energy independence seriously?
Sure, the supply of fossil fuels is finite, but running out is something for the distant future, right? Global warming is scary, but with the scientists bickering in a language foreign to most of us, why should we get worked up about it? A degree or two warmer may be bad for penguins, but it’s hard to think it could affect us.

But in this summer of our discontent, a little bit of that crisis is coming home to each of us. Every trip to the local gas station is an exercise in petro-misery; our big cars and SUVs have devalued more than our stock portfolios. Summer vacations

have been canceled or cut back, and businesses have been hurt.

As consumers, we seem to be responding sensibly, curbing driving and switching to smaller cars. Would that our politicians respond with similar intelligence.
Neither party and neither presumptive presidential candidate is telling the American people what we need to hear, even if we don’t want to hear it: that freeing ourselves from the tyranny of energy dependence will be difficult, requiring sacrifice from each of us and political courage from our leaders.

Silliness abounds. Sen. John McCain, the presumptive GOP nominee, still supports a gas tax holiday — an election-year gimmick that solves absolutely nothing — and has blamed Sen. Barack Obama for high gas prices. Obama talks majestically about energy independence, but details are maddeningly elusive, as they are with so much of his campaign. Congressional candidates utter the words “energy independence” with practiced piety, but new ideas seem taboo on the campaign trail.

Our economic future and our ability to conduct a coherent foreign policy — including supporting critical allies like Israel — are jeopardized by our energy shortsightedness. High gas prices today are just symptoms of a policy failure that can only weaken us abroad and undermine our way of life.

Washington should be monitoring closely the efforts of Shai Agassi, the young Israeli software expert who is working hard to make Israel the world leader in electric cars (see article on page 10). If successful, this bold project could help solve climate-control issues and improve prospects for Mideast peace by decreasing the West’s addiction to Arab oil.

It’s a cliché but it’s true: a nation that put men on the moon should be able to solve the energy crisis and free us from the tyranny of foreign oil dependence. But that won’t happen as long as our leaders regard energy independence as just another cheap political slogan, bandied about during campaigns and then conveniently forgotten.

Westchester Jewish Conference

Westchester’s Jewish Community Relations Organization