According to the calendar, summer has two- and-a-half weeks left. Realistically, this weekend is the unofficial end. School has started, and the nights are beginning to get cool. As fall approaches, people will begin to drive less. Buying less gas will be a relief to many, given the record-high prices.

Many of us are angry over oil prices. There is also a feeling of powerlessness: a gnawing suspicion that we are impotent to stop the steady price increases of the past few months. Still worse, many fear that high prices are here to stay. Hurricane Katrina has made things even worse. What can be done? How did this happen?

We can drive less. That will be difficult because our work commutes have steadily increased over the years. In 2000, the average daily commute in Androscoggin County was 47 miles, up from 40 in 1990. It was 53 miles in Oxford County, up from 40 in 1990. We can log on to www.mainegasprices.com and try to find the least expensive gas in our area. These are individual decisions. But where are our political leaders?

There is one national politician who dared to confront the American people with the core problem 26 years ago. In July 1979, President Jimmy Carter gave a major address in which he urged citizens to broaden their view of what was ailing America at the time. The energy crisis was really just a symptom of a much deeper ailment that threatened American democracy. The problem was a lack of faith in our ability to control our future. Its manifestations were a loss of national unity and growing doubts about the purpose of our lives.

To conquer doubt and unify our nation, we would have to acknowledge the obvious: our relationship with energy needed to be fundamentally altered. Carter stated that “Energy will be the immediate test of our ability to unite this nation, and it can also be the standard around which we rally. On the battlefield of energy we can win for our nation a new confidence, and we can seize control again of our common destiny.”

How far has our nation come since 1979? Has our relationship with energy been fundamentally changed? Not really.

We still lead the world in oil consumption at 20.7 million barrels of day; more than triple the amount of China, which is second.

We import more oil than ever before: 10 million barrels per a day.

OPEC still supplies us with 44 percent of our imported oil.

Even though 40 percent of our oil consumption goes to cars and light trucks, their fuel efficiency has only slightly increased.

Has energy united our nation? It has, but not in the way Carter intended it to. Our dependence on foreign oil has brought us together instead to wage wars. The U.S. has waged two major ones since 1979 in the Middle East. Both President Bushes claimed that they have not been over oil. The Gulf War of 1991 was about restoring the sovereignty of Kuwait. The current Iraq War was about weapons of mass destruction, democracy in the Middle East and the war on terrorism. However, there is evidence that oil was a key factor in both decisions to go to war.

After the Gulf War, former Secretary of State James Baker, stated: “We had a situation where if he [Saddam Hussein] had been successful it would have adversely impacted the economies of all of the West. It would have impacted jobs in the United States. All of these were valid reasons for fighting this war.” Since oil is the lifeline of our economy, his statement rings true.

Paul Wolfowitz, the former U.S. deputy defense secretary, stated in 2003 that the most significant distinction between Iraq and North Korea was oil and “the country [Iraq] swims on a sea of oil.” Wolfowitiz is correct. Iraq has the 115 billion barrels of proved oil reserves, the fourth largest in the world. North Korea has none.

Are we confident today? Eighty-one percent of Americans are concerned that the nation’s economy will be seriously damaged by higher gas prices, according to a recent ABC News poll. We also show declining confidence in our political leaders: President Bush has a 56 percent disapproval rating and Congress a 59 percent disapproval rating, according to recent Gallup polls.

Our nation has done its best when our leaders trust the people. Can President Bush finally begin to honestly acknowledge the depths of our energy problems? More importantly, will he tell us the hard truths that Carter tried to in 1979? The first step in regaining our confidence is to acknowledge the mess we are in. As the psychologists say, “Denial isn’t just a river in Egypt.” Only when we squarely face the difficult energy challenges that lay ahead, will we begin to reclaim our common heritage.

Karl Trautman has taught political science for more than 20 years. He has been a policy analyst for the Michigan legislature and a research assistant for “Meet the Press.” He chairs the social sciences department at Central Maine Community College and can be reached at karltrautman@yahoo.com.

Copy the Story Link