American culture is a strange one. Americans tend to forget that we are only five percent of the world?s population but we consume a great deal of the total world production, and 90 percent of it will still be imported in the year 2020 (see the first site below).
Each of us sees our personal use of the automobile as a necessity and not a luxury. We are mistaken. Luxury has to do with choice. We choose to live where we do and work where we do and build houses miles from everything that we need. Most of the world does not. They live close to where they were born, walk to work, and are able to meet their needs without a car. We could also, but we are spoiled.
How would your lifestyle change if gasoline was $30 per gallon? Would you need to move? Find a new job? Stop those slow country drives on the weekends? If you are driving an SUV, you might end up paying $2.00 per mile. Would you drive much?
Don?t get me wrong. I am not anti-oil or anti-automobiles or anti-American. I just wish to point out some things that most Americans are overlooking. Like why are we not burning alcohol for fuel? If we made it in the same quantities as our oil use, we would be spending about a dollar a gallon for it. And who out there is going to tell me that Americans can?t made that much alcohol? Poop, we could do that in our bathtubs.
The inability to differentiate between luxury and necessity is one of the hallmarks of decadence.
Decadence -- A process, condition, or period of deterioration or decline, as in morals or art; decay.
Remember Rome.
Excuse me. I have to drive to the postoffice (which is just over a mile away) to mail a letter that I forgot to put out for the postman to pick up.
www.americanassembler.com