Grubesic: 40 Year Addiction

John Grubesic

Capitol Report New Mexico - When I was in office didn’t pay much attention to blogs. I knew they were out there, but I had a hard enough time keeping track of the press in the Capitol. I didn’t get along with the press. We put up with each other. I had a bad habit of opening my mouth. They had the bad habit of writing it down and if they didn’t I wrote it for them. I made their jobs easy. I was a walking news brief. I have a new, I wouldn’t say respect but an understanding for bloggers and their ilk. Trying to figure out what to write about once a week is tough. Especially when you don’t have easy access to politicians that are rolling train wrecks. Luckily, the nature of politics naturally leads to the absurd. It mirrors Einstein’s definition of insanity, “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” When I was 9 years old I remember my parents talking about gas prices. Watching the news and seeing people wait in line for gas. I remember my Dad selling his beautiful eight cylinder Mercedes and buying a four cylinder Peugeot, the ugliest car this side of the Pacer. I remember our neighbors putting up solar panels and doing a project for Cub Scouts making a solar oven. Didn’t cook worth a damn, but it could roast the fingers of any 9 year old dumb enough to use it. President Nixon wrestled with OPEC and their embargo, Carter fretted over our oil dependency and the first Bush called it an addiction.

Thirty-eight years later where are we? Still nuzzled up to despotic, corrupt Arab regimes that we continue to prop up. Rebuilding Iraq while America turns to dust and blows away before our eyes. We are fighting three wars ( regardless of the semantic gymnastics, when you are dropping bombs on someone I am sure they would call it a war or at least very warlike) to protect the spigot for us or our European pals. There is no difference in America’s energy policy. We are doing the same things and expecting a different result. President Obama talks a great game and with every forceful finger point and gesture made at Georgetown he laid out the exact approach that every politician has touted for the past four decades. Read full column here: News New Mexico

Grubesic: 40 Year Addiction