If you use gas, curb the criticism

Is it 1972 again? In the Friday Herald, a letter drones on about the United States’ propensity to go to war for oil instead of democracy, support for the military-industrial complex, etc. If we go to the writer’s house, will we really find Jane Fonda living there? No offense intended; I’m sure the writer adores her.

But here’s the thing: As was the case back then and ever since, the motives of those who take advantage of our system while denouncing it as horrific are always suspect.

Do we go to war for oil? Probably. Maybe the letter writer is a top-level operative in the State Department, so is privy to all the political shenanigans that go on behind the scenes and knows first-hand the reasons for them. If not, well, there is a difference between knowledge and opinion.

Here’s the bottom line:

For those who complain of our methods of retaining access to oil, you better not be using any yourself, either directly or indirectly.

If our system is so abhorrent, well, gee, the border’s not that far away. Just don’t use any gas getting there.

Our system of government can be suspect at times, our motives apparently impure. But to paraphrase something Churchill once said “…democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time…”

Chris Johnson

Marysville