Have you ever wondered why someone would want to be deliberately stupid in a world that should know better? Ask a Republican. They will, of course, deny they’re stupid, but among themselves they acknowledge that they say stupid things in order to ensure the loyalty of certain voters, who will believe anything if it supports their biases.
Let’s take oil, for example — specifically, blaming the president for high gas prices, and getting away with it among these voters. Everyone knows oil prices are set on the world market — well almost everyone — and that despite reduced imports and increased domestic production, prices are going up anyway. Why? Because the US currently produces only about ten percent of the world’s oil, and there’s very little chance of changing that ratio any time soon, no matter where we mine the oil. With such a small contribution to world supply, we won’t impact world prices much.
And let’s not overlook the fact that we have to stop burning fossil fuels as soon as possible. That imperative is seldom part of the conversation about gas prices. Gas-powered cars are going to be with us for a while, so instead of kvetching about where the next drop of conventional oil is coming from, we need to get behind a program to make biofuels a practical reality. This is in everyone’s interests — even the stupid.
Liberal Buzz 