Everyone knows that America’s involment in most of the Middle East conflicts is all about one thing – oil. Back in Desert Storm, we weren’t protecting the people of Kuwait, we were protecting their oil. The same thing is still going on today. Whenever war with Iraq is mentioned on the news, someone always brings up how it’s going to affect gas prices.
This is why I think it’s so strange that most Americans are infatuated with giant SUVs. It seems like if you aren’t driving a suburban, or something even bigger like a hummer, then you just aren’t cool anymore. People brag about the fact that their new SUV gets less than 10 miles to the gallon like it’s something to be proud of.
Now someone has set up a website to try to convince people that this might not be the best way. The site is called Americans for Fuel Efficient Cars. There you can read news articles and watch their commercials. I think they have a pretty good point.
Paige and I both drive Hondas, which are some of the most fuel efficient cars in the world…
You know I drive a Honda too, but this crusade against SUV’s is nuts. If SUV’s fund terror, then so do Honda Civics. There’s no threshold to be crossed dividing the “good cars” from the “bad” because they all consume Middle East oil. And saying that you’re funding terror because you buy gas from the Middle East is the same thing as saying you’re aiding organized crime because you eat at the pizzaria down the block.
I’ve always heard that the best way to get people to comment on your site is to post something controversial. I guess it really does work :-)
Hi Dan, welcome to our site. Your argument is certainly valid, there is no absolute right or wrong here.
But there is one fact that a lot of people aren’t considering – not all of our oil comes from the Middle East. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, only 26% of our oil imports come from Persian Gulf countries. The majority of that oil, around 14%, comes from Saudia Arabia.
Now lets say for the sake of argument that half of the people in the U.S. drive a vehicle that gets less than 15 mpg. What if all those people went out tomorrow and bought a Honda Civic, which gets at least 30 mpg. If half of the people in the U.S. used half as much gasoline, then we could potentially cut imports by 25%. That’s almost enough to completely eliminate our dependence on Persian Gulf oil.
I’m not on some kind of crazy crusade to eliminate all gas powered vehicles, but I do believe that people could be a little more conservative.
Feel free to check my facts here, all of my numbers came from this web site – http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/usa.html
I can’t dispute your facts. But I suspect that if we cut gasoline consumption 25%, we’d still be importing something like 26% of it from the Middle East. We’d still buy the cheapest oil, and OPEC would price it competively to keep their US market share.
If we determine that Saudi oil funds terrorism, a more sensible and straightforward way to deal with it is to stop buying it, as a matter of US policy. Damn the consequences, buy the shortfall from Venezuela or Russia or wherever. If the price rises, so be it. Then, in the correct sequence of cause and effect, people will stop driving 10 mpg SUV’s. After all, they’re only driving them now because gas is cheap, in a relative sense.
Actually, if we determine that Saudi oil funds terrorism, we should engage Saudi Arabia in the most appropriate manner to stop their support of terrorism. If they won’t, then they’re our enemy, and we should treat them as such. Not buying their oil is the least we should do.
Dan
1995 Honda Accord