Gas lines

It's amazing how actions taken (or not taken) almost three DECADES ago can have a direct impact on the present. As everybody has seen, gas prices, for various geopolitical and geological reasons, have been steadily increasing over the past year or so.

When I passed our local Hess station yesterday afternoon, regular unleaded was $2.579. This morning (less than 12 hours later) it was $2.659. This afternoon (less than 8 hours later), it was $2.759, and it had a serious line.

This evening the Mrs and I were running some errands, finally ending up at Costco. The line for gas ran around the building. Stations along the way to and from had lines, or were out of gas and closed. And this is Central Florida.

Unfortunately, this has been building up since the early 80s, when Reagan decided that Carter's energy policies were not in sync with his and the oil industry's interests. At that point, this country was set on a path to energy vulnerability, culminating in what we are witnessing today.

I see people driving around in their Hummers and Expeditions and want to laugh at them, but then realize that partly because of them, we are paying higher gas prices and losing soldiers in Iraq trying to secure future oil for this country.