America's Oil Rehab

“Step 1: Admitted we had a problem and that our lives had become unmanageable.”
- Alcoholics Anonymous

Like any addiction, America’s dependence on oil is making our country increasingly unmanageable. Our near-term future is actually quite predictable. It is a well-worn path followed by every alcoholic, cigarette smoker and compulsive gambler. We won’t fix our problem until we “bottom-out” and face recovery straight in the face. Intervention is required but the first step is actually admitting we have problem…Houston.

Denial is a powerful element of addiction for a very good reason. If you are an addict, be it booze, pills or Skittles fruit candy (my vice) you have become one precisely because facing your problems is so daunting and repugnant a task, that harming your body, losing your friends and ruining your life actually becomes a preferable alternative! This is clearly not rational and such warped thinking can only be achieved with lots and lots of D&D (drugs and denial). It is a vicious cycle where things get worse from the drugs, resulting in a need for more drugs and more reasons to escape. Until the very end, denial keeps the addict blissfully unaware even when it is as clear as day to everyone around them. The downward spiral doesn’t end until it can no longer be ignored. For addicts, this is called “bottoming out” and it is the first and most important step in recovery. Ironically, “bottoming out” is almost celebrated in the recovery world because a) by definition, there is nowhere to go but up and b) the addict has now learned that they have to face their issues head on. They can no longer put a band-aid on a bullet hole. So begins a long, slow, painful process of learning how to live all over again but learning a better way to live.

And what, exactly is the “right way” to live? Turns out, at its simplest, it is a life of service, of helping others. Twelve-step recovery is founded on the principle that addiction is simply obsessive-compulsive behavior. You stop being obsessive when you stop being self-centered and begin thinking about others and living “outside of yourself”. No one who learns this escapes feeling skeptical that a concept so simple can work as a philosophy of life. Fewer still, overlook the irony inherent in the fact that the less energy you spend trying to make yourself happy, that happier you actually become. However, anyone who’s been through recovery or is close to someone who has, knows exactly what I’m talking about.

America is addicted to oil and our behavior is being affected by it. We are losing our friends on the world stage. Our “suppliers,” aware of our addiction, are charging more and more for each fix. We are destroying our body (the environment). In a fog, we know something is vaguely wrong with this picture yet our denial is so strong we can’t see the cause. We are becoming a late-stage addict, huddled in a corner, hoping the kerosene we found under the sink will get us high and still unaware that oil is our problem.

The solution? Clearly immediate intervention is required. However, to be successful, we must sincerely admit we have a problem and not just say it but actually believe it. We must be willing to change our ways with every fiber of our national soul. Frankly, it probably has to get a lot worse before we are ready to face our problems and change. The contrast of leadership is striking. Bill Clinton told us not to be afraid of change. George Bush has told us to be afraid, very, very afraid.

Sounds easy enough right? Well, as any one whose been through physical, mental or chemical rehab can tell you, learning what to do is easy, actually following through with it is a different story. However, the key to success will be those simple prescriptions I laid out above. We will solve our problems when we stop acting as a self-centered, do-it-alone, materialistic nation and start thinking about what we can do to help others at home and abroad. This is not just bongo-banging liberalism. We have had 5 years of unfettered greed and mass consumption; yet look at the situation we are in. Getting off oil will not only save the environment, it will get us out of our middle east quagmire, create new, more domestic energy industries which, in turn, will actually improve our economy. It will allow us to focus on important domestic issues (education, healthcare and jobs) long neglected because of Bush's Oil War.

Our president is, by his own admission, a recovering alcoholic. I wish him only the best in his personal recovery. However, his foreign and energy policies are baffling. Since he is the leader of the free world is it not reasonable, indeed judicious, to explore his motivations personal or otherwise? In this regard, is he truly in recovery or has oil become his new “old friend”?