Instant Gratification Takes Too Long - The realities of off-shore oil drilling

Instant Gratification Takes Too Long! The Realities of Offshore Oil Drilling

When I hear politicians like John McCain, Dick Cheney, John Sununu, and now more shamefully, Mel Martinez, tell the American public that off-shore oil drilling will lower gas prices (eventually), I can only think of that moment in the movie Postcards from the Edge where Meryl Streep mutters “instant gratification takes too long” as she's lying in bed in a rehab center while her mother (Shirley McClaine) chatters on about her career, oblivious to what her daughter really needs.

Once again politicians are also playing the role of overbearing stage mother, telling Americans that if they just let a little oil drilling take place off shore, all will be well again, just trust them, okay? Yeah right. Even if we were to open up every coastline and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling tomorrow, the earliest we'd see a drop of that oil at the pump would be in seven to ten years.

The only instant gratification that anyone is getting in this sorry political sham is the gratification of politicians who are running scared from the anger of their constituents over soaring prices at the pump. They think they've hit on a quick fix to placate the voters and they're trying to sell this snake oil, hoping that emotion rather than reason will hold sway over Americans, at least until November.

Scamming the voters only becomes sweeter if you're a politician who has accepted money from oil and gas interests, or if you and your friends have substantial investments in these industries.

For years Republicans have preached the same mantra to American energy needs: drill, drill, and drill some more, just at they respond to every economic bump by chanting: cut taxes, cut taxes, and cut taxes again, especially for those at the top 1% of the income scale.

Before Americans are taken in by this mantra, they might want to remember the rosy scenarios for oil prices that Republicans fed them before the Iraq War, and look how much that war has cost us, not only at the gas pump, but in terms of our national debt, and the lives of families who have lost sons or daughters or seen them severely injured both physically and mentally.

Is this really the party we want to trust to direct America's energy future?

Certainly Americans are right to be upset about the sharp spike in gasoline prices that has caught everyone off-guard, but that anger should be directed at both Republicans and Democrats for always directing energy policy first towards supply and hardly ever at demand.

In fact, most Americans are voting with their feet on gas prices by keeping them firmly fixed on the brakes instead of the gas pedal and reducing the number of miles driven for a record six consecutive months, an historical record.

Congress and the Bush administration could encourage and reward these grass-roots conservation efforts by creating tax credits for the purchase of hybrid or high mileage vehicles or by offering emergency funding to towns and cities who are finding themselves overwhelmed by increased use of mass transit, or even by providing block grants to states to fund additional forms of public transportation.

Even if some portion of the current rise in oil and gas prices stems from market speculators, Americans must face the new reality that they are competing globally with expanding economies in Asia for a limited supply of energy, and no amount of raving at your representative or senator will change that.

Americans should reject the quick fix of politicians who tell them oil drilling in U.S. coastal waters will do anything to help them with today's energy realities.

Republican politicians are taking the approach of those quick weight loss ads telling Americans that they can shed 10 pounds in two weeks and refusing to face the harsh reality that oil prices are simply and stubbornly set by supply and demand. The statistics are stark – the U.S. has roughly 3% of the world's oil reserves and consumes about 25% of current supply.

We can no longer drill or fight our way into an adequate supply of oil. Instead, it is time for Americans to look seriously at what they can do to reduce their demand.

Many of us are already doing this; it's too bad politicians can't follow their example because in the case of energy, instant gratification really does take too long.