Energy, health care and patriotism

By Published by The Editorial Board

Published: July 11, 2008

Congress can fix this now

To the editor:

Whenever a Democrat in Washington — or one such as Mark Warner, who is running for office — is asked about increased drilling for oil in the United States, the standard mantra is that it will take 10 years to produce more oil, so it would not help the situation today. They never explain how they arrived at the 10-year time frame, or why it would not be even more important to start drilling now since it would take so long to be productive.

The United States uses about 20 million barrels of oil each day and produces about 8 million barrels. Therefore, we have to buy 12 million barrels a day from other countries. At $140 a barrel, that amounts to $1.7 billion a day or $610 billion a year. Over the past 20 years, crude oil production in the United States has declined more than 40 percent and 75 billion barrels of proven oil reserves have been declared off limits to drilling. The strange thing is that a large majority of the oil we buy comes from Canada, Mexico and Venezuela. If the ban is for environmental reasons, why is it OK to buy oil from our close neighbors but wrong to drill here?

According to TheHill.com, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has canceled the energy legislation she vowed to tackle after the Fourth of July recess because Republicans might force a vote on domestic drilling. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said this week that oil and coal are killing us. That pretty much sums up the attitude of the Democratic leadership in Congress.

I strongly believe we should conserve our natural resources and we should try to develop energy alternatives, but we should use our own oil as much as possible because it will create a lot of jobs in this country and it will make us less dependent on other countries since 90 percent of the world’s oil is produced outside the United States in countries whose production is nationalized and, in many cases, very unstable.

Congress has mandated that we produce a certain amount of ethanol from corn, which taxpayers subsidize. So far, that has driven up corn prices and the process uses a large amount of energy, so the savings of oil are minimal. Congress also finally set new mileage standards for cars, but with gas at $4 a gallon, the general public is changing its buying and driving habits, therefore the standards are useless since auto manufacturers are already being forced to change their product lines to meet the demands of its customers. Changes will come, but it will take many years and our need for oil is not going away for a long time — if ever. Mass transportation in the cities must be increased and that should be a large part of Virginia’s transportation plan.

I don’t believe Congress is smart enough to mandate what our new energy alternatives will be, it just needs to allow our people to tackle the problem and see what they can design because at $4 a gallon, people will come up with a lot of good ideas. That is why this country is so great.

RAY LAWSON

To the editor:

I think it is really important that someone is finally here working to improve health care. We need some help now. A lot of people here have worked jobs that were hazardous to their health, and now they can’t get the help they need because they can’t pay the health insurance premiums that keep rising. A lot of people are working every day and they still don’t have health care. On top of that, the cost of living is too high for Medicaid eligibility, and medicines are too expensive.

A few weeks ago, I met a young man from the Virginia Organizing Project knocking on doors to talk to people about health care. I was surprised to see someone coming to listen to my concerns and to try to help. I’m just praying now that people will start working together and things will get better around here.

JOANN JOHNSON

To the editor:

Patriotism begins with your own family. Unless citizens seek the real truth and then wisely reject propaganda and lies, “patriotism” can become a code-word successfully used by manipulators to dupe the ignorant.

How many innocent people, both soldiers and civilians — including women and children — have been killed, displaced and maimed because of war profiteers and ulterior motives?

A close look at history will show an abundance of popinjays, rogues, marauders, supremacists and myrmidons who have hidden behind the veil of “patriotism.”

Everyone who dances to the war drums is called a patriot, regardless of ilk. However, anyone who protests or speaks out against war is automatically denounced as “unpatriotic.”

In my opinion, unless a person diligently seeks the truth, denounces wrongdoing, speaks truth to power and obeys the Golden Rule — that person is neither a true patriot nor a true Christian.

Torture, murder and rape are not “patriotism.” Neither is inordinate war profiteering and conspiracy. George Washington warned us, “Protect America from invaders, but do not maraud.”

ANDREW MITCHELL JR.

Chatham