Senator Sanders

I got my email update from my favorite US Senator today. I really just want to say that one of my top reasons for continuing to live in Vermont is Bernie Sanders. I know that a lot of people think President Obama is a socialist, and in that context socialist senators seem rather mundane. The thing is, Bernie is a self proclaimed socialist. And we Vermonters, as backward as we are in some respects, always elect him. It warms my heart.

The other day I was sitting here trying to compose a letter to send to all of my congressmen suggesting that now, in this period of, most likely temporary and admittedly reactionary, disdain for big oil, might be a good time to start having a conversation about what comes next. As in, post petroleum economy. You have to make political hay when the sun is shining (or the tar-balls are washing up on the beach.) And who comes on Vermont Edition on NPR, but good old Bernie Sanders, proposing exactly what I was trying to articulate. Like he read my mind. Seriously, the US public is just a tiny bit fickle and once this thing stops being reported on 24/7, people are going to go back to their oil loving ways. I hate to call a tragedy like what we've got going on in the Gulf an opportunity, especially in light of the 11 people who lost their lives when the Deepwater Horizon blew up, but the fact is, it is an opportunity. It's an opportunity to seize some negative public sentiment and do something positive with it. Like stopping the conversation about drilling for every last drop of insignificant oil at any cost and starting the conversation about the next phase of our energy economy, in earnest. And while we're at it, how about legislating a permanent ban on drilling in the ANWR to save that incredible gift for future generations. This may be our last chance to avoid f******g that one up.

Oh, and one more thing. Can't we get off the President's back about his apparent lack of outrage? Is a leader of the free world who keeps his anger in check really a bad thing? Perhaps the President feels, as I do, that those of us who continue to drive our automobiles, surround ourselves in plastic, eat factory farmed food, use electricity, and heat our homes with petroleum products shouldn't go around pointing fingers. BP is a corporation. As distasteful as it may seem, BP is acting in the exact manner that corporations are obliged to act. Corporations cut corners, bend rules and break laws for the same reasons that professional athletes take steroids. If you want big dividends, high share prices, and cheap oil, then you want a corporation like BP, just like if you want to see someone ride a time trial on a bicycle at 35 mph for 35 miles after racing through mountains everyday for three weeks, you are asking that athlete to cheat. How about if we all channel our anger and just fix this broken shit?