Where I Stand — Hank Greenspun: Big oil making out well in gas crisis

Friday, June 1, 2001 | 9:26 a.m.

Note to readers: Sun founder Hank Greenspun's last Where I Stand column was written in 1989, the year he passed away. In the following weeks Classic Sun will feature columns written by Hank that still relate to today's headlines. In this column, written on May 11, 1979, Hank examines the gas crisis and the role big oil companies played in the ordeal:

The oil companies have a license to rob the public because the elected officials who give them the authority steal themselves.

The No. 1 issue on the minds of the over-burdened, over-taxed over-governed citizens is the energy crisis, defined in simpler terms as the contrived shortage of gasoline.

Even if war had been declared, I doubt we would have received greater telephone and written response.

In a manner of speaking, war has been declared. This time not against another nation, but against the huge oil companies who quite literally control the present and future of our country.

The people want the truth. They are tired of being fed the pablum they were forced to swallow during the 1974 gas crisis. They are pleading with someone to level with them, whether it be the president, whose duty it is to govern in the best interests of the majority; or heads of the big oil companies; or elected representatives.

Americans have always been able to face any crisis in spite of the fat-cat, selfish concept other nations use to promote the image of the "ugly American."

If it becomes absolutely necessary and our country is in danger, the citizens will rise to the occasion.

But give us the truth.

The mail the Sun has received, since I advised everyone to write to senators and congressmen and urge nationalization of the oil companies, reveals the frustration of the people.

As Geneva Hazlett pointed out in her letter: "We should all write and demand action from our government. It may not do any good, but at least we can try and we can hope."

This nation was built on hope. The dreams of our hardy pioneer forefathers have been realized in the most powerful and richest country of the world. And those expectations most certainly must not become mired in the inability of our leaders to face up to the current situation and offer some solutions.

One Sun reader believes we have become a nation of puppets on a string, manipulated by a government which is not for the people and definitely not by the people.

Even as we rail at our own inconveniences, we face a much more serious threat, and we deserve to be given straight answers to legitimate questions.

As Ted West puts it: "The oil trust, the White House and the Congress have at last boxed themselves into a corner. They are either lying about the oil shortage or they have rendered the United States absolutely indefensible in the event of an all-out war.

"If they are lying, and lying they are, there is sufficient petroleum to consume five times peacetime usage, which would be required by wartime demand. If they are not lying (but lying they are) then we are sitting ducks."

Ella Hunter thinks, as many do, that "we have been sold down the drain by our elected officials here and in Washington starting with our president. The oil lobby in our nation's capitol is one of the strongest and best financed machines there. If our ability to move is curtailed or stopped, it follows that those in power will be able to control our lives -- all in the name of an energy crisis that is non-existent.

"If we the people band together and declare our own state of emergency on the prices being charged at the pump, we should be able to make our presence felt. If there is not enough oil to cover the consumption of this country's needs, then not one drop of oil should be sent out of this country to foreign ports and the oil in the Alaska pipeline should not be allowed to leave either."

Dr. Herbert Warm wrote to Nevada's senators at our suggestion, although he is not convinced nationalization is the answer.

He suggests "There is another way to control the looting of the public and render ourselves a service. That is by way of putting the oil industry under the rules and regulations such as the telephone, gas and electric companies operate. In those cases there seems little complaint. Growth has not been stifled, profits seem adequate without being unreasonable and we do enjoy the best service on Earth and all with private enterprise doing the job ..."

Throughout all the letters and from the many phone calls received at the Sun, there is still one perplexing and irritating question, "Is there an energy crisis?"

That's what the people want to know. They plead for the truth.

President Carter, the oil company execs and even our lowliest legislators and public officials should recall the words of President Abraham Lincoln:

"If you once forfeit the confidence of your fellow citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem. It is true that you may fool all the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all the time; but you can't fool all of the people all of the time."

And that's why they called him "Honest Abe," which is more than we can say for the dammed oil companies.