By Dustin Axe
As I write this, oil is gushing into the Gulf of Mexico 5,000 feet below the surface of the water. For over 10 weeks oil has been polluting the ocean at a rate of 2.5 million gallons per day. Every attempt to contain the oil has failed and a possible long-term solution will not be finished until August. I cannot begin to express how outraged I am over this. It not only illustrates how inefficient and corrupt the United States government is, but it also shows what happens when corporations are allowed free reign with no regulations. Yet, despite the actions of the government and BP, which are no doubt absolutely horrible, true blame lies with you and me.
Barack Obama was elected president with perhaps the best tagline in campaign history, “Change We Can Believe In.” It gave the impression that corrupt and inefficient government (among other things) was a thing of the past. Actions before and after Hurricane Katrina showed just how inefficient the government is and how little it cares for everyday citizens. Obama promised us something different. Gone were the days where government only cared for the interests of the Fortune 500, and here to stay is a new era of peace and prosperity that begins with the working class. While I do not condemn him for offering the notion that change is both needed and possible, the idea that it will come from a president or government agency is nonsense.
Here we are, a year and a half after his inauguration, and the government’s inability to take control of the situation in the Gulf shows just how much things haven’t changed. It would seem the government has the responsibility to use every available resource to stop the leak and protect the shoreline. Surely there is something in the Constitution about protecting the borders of the United States. As of a few weeks ago, the government has officially spent one trillion dollars on wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to “keep America safe”, but the government won’t do anything to protect our borders from an immediate environmental catastrophe. This is sickening.
I am also completely appalled by the actions of British Petroleum, but I’m not surprised. What multinational corporation cares for anything other than profit? While I have no doubt its scientists and engineers are doing their best to stop the leak, the arrogance of senior executives illustrates how the company operates as a whole. From the very beginning there has been no effort to acknowledge the severity of the spill. BP has issued false statements and underestimated the amount of oil gushing into the ocean. It clearly has financial interests in underestimating everything.
Obama recently announced that BP is responsible for paying $20 billion to cleanup the shoreline and to compensate people who have lost businesses. I believe BP should be held accountable for its negligence, but I don’t believe all the blame rests solely with them. Each and every one of us should take responsibility; after all, we all use oil.
Perhaps we all should take personal responsibility for all energy related disasters, and if we want them to change we should evaluate our lives and reconsider choices we make on a daily basis. Gandhi said, “You should be the change you want to see in the world.” Until we make an effort to change our habits by consuming less energy and start promoting renewable energy sources we only have ourselves to blame for this spill, not BP.
The same goes for war in Afghanistan. It is officially the longest war in American history and there is no end in sight. The President, under the advice of Defense Secretary Robert Gates, a Bush appointee, is sending tens of thousands of more soldiers to the region and expanding an ever increasing covert war in Pakistan. War in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan is eerily similar to Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. This is hardly change the President promised, but real change won’t come until enough individuals make a conscience decision to make it happen. If we don’t change our personal lives we only have ourselves to blame and we must accept all consequences, including war.
Michael Jackson famously sang that change starts with the “man in the mirror.” If you want change you can believe in, you must be that change. It’s up to you and me to start taking personal responsibility for the world we live in by standing up and saying enough is enough. It’s up to regular people to refuse to participate. Governments lose their legitimacy without obedient citizens, soldiers and taxes, and corporations cannot survive without workers and consumers.
