THE ROBERT W. WHITAKER ARCHIVE

AN EXAMPLE OF THE ABOVE | 2003-05-03

Sometimes dealing with crazy people makes me feel a little crazy.

So let me outline the present situation for you

1) America has serious economic problems;

2) Everybody agrees that a reduction in the price of oil would be as good for the American economy as any tax cut;

3) What keeps the price of oil high is a cartel called OPEC, which everyone agrees is pure blackmail;

4) We have just liberated Iraq from a tyranny at a high cost in money and a cost in lives;

5) We can't have a tax cut because we have to pay for that war, which we claim was salvation for Iraq; and

6) To rebuild Iraq at our own expense. Meanwhile

7) Iraq has the second largest oil reserves on earth.

Isn't there a very obvious solution here?

The reason we don't do what a rational country would do is because liberals accuse us of "fighting the war for oil." We have to compromise with liberals, which means they may forgive us for the Iraq war if the whole burden of that war in lives and money falls on America and we continue to allow OPEC blackmail.

Compromising with insanity is insanity.