This is not a demoocracy

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Mick Jagger might say you can't always get what you wanted, but what happens when you DO get what you wanted and realize it ain't what you wanted after all?

A reliable figure of exactly how much oil companies get in subsidies (and tax breaks) from the United States is a number I can't find.

What I can tell you is a planned hearing on these subsidies ain't gonna accomplish anything.

The simple truth is, the world runs on petroleum products, most importantly diesel. Big oil companies are responsible for getting diesel to market and everyone knows it.

Politicians are gonna talk big and do nothing. Why? Because they know what kinda clout the oil companies wield.

We do not (and never have for that matter) live in a democracy. We live are supposed to live in a republic. Since the time of the internal combustion engine and the use of oil to heat homes and otherwise provide the lubrication of our lives, we live in an Oilocracy.

Gas is presently $3.8X in my community. Yours?

Remember a few years back when oil was $100 a barrel? Gas barely hit $3 a gallon.

Why is it more expensive now?

Some claim it is because the world market for gasoline is soaring thanks to India and China (which have booming economies now thanks to the great American drive to pay less for everything).

Ahem.

The reason gasoline prices are so high is because oil companies can charge that much and we are willing to pay that.

For the record I am in 100 percent agreement and support with oil companies being allowed to charge whatever they want for fuel.

No compromise here.

I am also 100 percent OPPOSED to giving such companies subsidies of any form, any tax breaks not offered to everyone else and pretty much any kind of involuntary support on my part. Involuntary support is defined as anything that uses my income tax dollars to benefit the oil companies.

Sales tax does not figure into this because sales tax is an optional tax. I decide where and when to spend my money.

I do not decide how to collect and spend my income taxes.

Believe it or not, the problem is not with our elected representatives in Washington and other places.

Really.

They are doing exactly what we send them to Washington (and other places) to do.

Well, one of us is insane. Who?

"You are insane, Baker. I didn't vote for them so they could do this," you say.

Several things immediately come to mind:

Did you vote? If not then when are you complaining?

If you did vote, whom did you vote for? If you voted for pretty much anyone who is a Reboobican or Damnocrat, then you voted for a continuation of the existing and previous policies.

Yes, you did.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. We've had more than 100 years of Damnocrats and Reboobicans running things and you expect 'em to do any different now?

Happy yet? You got what you asked for.

Which one of us is insane? Bear in mind I voted against the Reboobicans and Damnocrats as much as I voted for the person I genuinely felt would do the best job (and those people were not Reboobicans or Damnocrats).

Having disposed of 95 percent of the American adult public in the first two voting& non-voting categories, I now look at the remaining 5 percent. That's the third option above.

I voted for real change. I voted for people who would go to Washington and make the hard choices to eliminate the nanny state in which we presently live.

You, chances are, voted to continue to have skyrocketing oil prices, massive deficits and more government control and a continuation of the oilocracy.

Bitch all you want to about high gas prices.

But it is what you asked for and what you wanted. The fact that what you got is not what you thought you wanted is something YOU need to think about.