The worst addiction of them all

By GERRY WARNER
Staff Writer, The Cranbrook Daily Townsman
July 29, 2005
Addiction is a terrible thing no matter what the source of the addiction is. Stories are rife in the media these days about a rising tide of people addicted to crystal meth and, of course, we've all heard about the horrors of heroin addiction, cocaine and numerous other deadly substances.
But there is a far worse addiction rampant in Western society today and its tentacles are rapidly spreading around the developed world. From Calgary to London to Shanghai, once people get addicted to this substance they can't live without it. Even when the dealers jack the price up to record levels, as they've done recently, people refuse to give it up. This addiction has led to war and countless deaths yet it's perfectly legal and no one is suggesting changing its status. To be sure, some alternatives are being examined, but it's going to be decades before this deadly addiction is toppled from its mighty throne. This remains the case even though this addiction is poisoning the very air we breathe and is being blamed for changing the climate of the earth at a cost of billions.
Like it or not, we live in what can best be described as an "oilacracy." In Marxian terms, oil is the material base on which the world's economic superstructure resides. It doesn't matter whether you're Western, Eastern, capitalist or communist, oil is king. It's the coin of the realm, much more than gold, silver or any other precious metal ever was. He who controls oil, controls the world. If Alexander the Great was alive today, his soldiers would be in the Middle East just the same as the soldiers of George Bush. Except Alexander would probably be winning the war instead of losing it. Be that as it may, those foolish souls who try to tell you that the war in Iraq is about democracy, religion or regime change are only deluding themselves.
It's about oil, stupid. It always was, always is and always will be until we break our deadly addiction. And that isn't happening anytime soon.
I got to thinking about this on a trip last weekend to Montana. The cheapest gas price I saw was $2.39 an American gallon for unleaded , only marginally cheaper than here. My how times change. The first time I saw gas selling for a toonie-a-gallon in the good ol' Excited States of America was last fall. Now it's pushing $2.50-a-gallon. Can three loonies be far behind?For that matter, when I moved down here from the Yukon eight years ago, I could fill my Aerostar van for under $40. Now it's over $70 and climbing. Two weeks-a-go, I was in Edmonton, 93 cents-a-gallon, the same as here. Remember when Alberta gas prices were so much cheaper than B.C.? Not anymore. And now I will really age myself because I can remember when I first went to Simon Fraser University in the mid-1960's driving a 1952 Pontiac that I bought from my dad my usual gas purchase was $2. No kidding! Those were the days before self-service and I can distinctly remember saying many-a-time, "two dollars worth, please." And that was almost half-a-tank! I could drive a week on that. Those. indeed, were the days.
Now with the world consuming 83 million barrels-a-day of sixty dollar oil, times have changed. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm thinking before I decide to drive now. My family would love to go back to the Yukon where we have many friends. Not a chance! A rough calculation indicates a round trip to Whitehorse would cost almost $700. No can do. It would be cheaper to fly. I've thought about buying a hybrid, but they start at $30,000 and you have to wonder how many miles you'd have to drive before you saved any money. And they have expensive batteries to replace. Ironically, there are several four-cylinder gasoline model cars on the market that sell for as little as $15,000 new and get upwards of 50 miles, yes miles, to the gallon. See what I mean? Our society is still wedded, perhaps welded would be the better term, to the internal combustion engine. And as long as it is, petro-politics is going to be the way of the world. About the only thing that could change this would be the advent of the hydrogen fuel cell battery, but that appears to be some time off yet.
So what does this all mean? For starters, don't waste anytime worrying about Quebec separation because in an economy where oil is king there is a province far closer to us with a lot more muscle to separate. How about that, eh. A passport to cross the Alberta frontier. And if that doesn't happen, Canada is poised to become one of the petro-powers of the world. We already sell more oil to the U.S. than any country except Saudi Arabia and it's predicted we'll pass the Saudis in less than a decade. The geo-politics of this are rather mind-boggling when you consider how the Americans treat us in terms of resources they covet like lumber and cattle. Will a future Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld-type regime decide to do a little "regime change" in Ottawa if they can't have their way with us.
I'd like to think that's a joke, but I'm not so sure.
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