Canthook

Gas prices are down to 3.679 per gallon, more than 30 cents off it peak. However, politicians are still worried that there's too much dependence on foreign oil.

You know, I kinda figure it's like crime. Does it really matter if I'm being beat up as a "hate crime" or simply because some guy decided on me at random? Does it really matter if the guy is armed with a gun, or if he's carrying around a machete, or a billy club? Armed robbery is the same crime as robbery, battery is the same crime whether it's racially motivated or not, and fraud is fraud whether the victim is over 65 or not.

If I'm paying high prices for gas, does it really matter if the money goes to Oklahoma, or Saskatchewan or Qatar? No. All those folks are equally deserving. Or undeserving. Whatever.

But in any case, the quickest way to lessen our dependence on foreign oil would be to make Canada, Mexico, and the US all one big country.

According to the latest statistics, Canada supplies about 25% of our crude oil imports, and Mexico supplies about 14% more. Since we produce about 30% of our oil needs domestically, that would mean that more than 2/3 of our petroleum would be domestic production, rather than imports.

Now, I'm not suggesting that unifying these three countries would be easy. We'd probably have to get on our knees and beg the other two countries to take us.

But it'd be a good idea for other reasons as well. We'd eliminate the cost of patrolling the Canadian and Mexican borders, and it'd immediately solve this whole immigration issue.

I've never been too hip on this whole fence idea, anyway. I have no doubt that it would slow down illegal immigration; it's just a question of whether it'd be worth the cost. The Great Wall of China didn't protect China, and the Maginot Line didn't protect France. The Berlin Wall didn't protect Berlin very well, either.

And if we built it, we'd have people from Germany coming to visit, and proclaiming in speeches, "Mr. Reagan, tear down this wall." Never mind that he's dead. They'd say it anyhow, and it'd be embarassing.

Other Bloggers On Related Topics:
Berlin Wall - domestic oil - Great Wall of China - Maginot Line - oil imports - Ronald Reagan