My favorite thing about the U.S.
is the way people ask the government what it is doing with their money. It is rather different than the way the government is treated in Southern Europe, where I grew up. There, people just ask the government for money: a subsidy for this, support for that, etc. The funny thing is that Southern Europeans fail to realize that for their to be more support from the government, more taxes need to be paid and less tax evasion needs to happen. Maybe that type of behavior is a relic from the monarchic regimes…
It is rather surprising, then, to see Americans behave as Southern Europeans in the energy debate. It does not dawn on Americans that there is a consumption problem. The government can kick and scream and lower the price of gas all they want but until we handle consumption behavior, we will not find a suitable solution.
So, I quite enjoyed reading one of the contributions of a reader to a CNN energy report. The reader said “Americans are blind.” Such a simple thought and yet so true. And to think that when President Bush was first elected, he dismissed the energy problem. It’s too tempting to not say that had Gore been elected, we’d be further ahead solving the energy problem. But maybe someone else will come along to offer a simple and efficient solution. Let’s just hope that we don’t laugh in their face and call them crazy and a tree hugger like we did to Gore.
