Egypt Reminds Us We Are Running Out Of Time – Not Oil

What is going to happen next in Egypt? According to Mubarak, “the result will be extremism and radical Islam.” Others aren’t so sure. What is certain is that the risk factor in the Middle East has risen again. That means the world’s oil supply is at risk as well. A wise country would do what it could to insulate its people from that risk. It is beyond a serious question as to whether the United States will.

Revolutions are not things of certainty. For instance, once underway, the ideals and prospects for the French Revolution once were touted by the likes of our own Jefferson and Madison. Washington, the soldier among the three, was far more circumspect. The freedom won by the likes of the Marquis Lafayette in the early days of the French Revolution was lost not long after in the ensuing chaos. Lafayette, the same man who helped win our Revolution, would eventually be jailed for years while many thousands died in The Terror before Napoleon dashed any hope for democracy. So much for the foresight of our 3^rd and 4^th Presidents – they fanned the early embers only to see those embers engulf a nation.

Our current President encouraged those taking part in the first Act of Egypt’s current drama. Given that it was the military of Egypt that removed an intransigent Mubarak and now run its streets, it can hardly be said that freedom has been assured. The difficult part lies ahead. The only certainty in front of us now is uncertainty.

Returning to the French Revolution, its affects were hardly restricted to the French. International trade was affected and the rise of Napoleon brought serious concerns of war in the United States and actual wars to Europe. Egypt may play a similar role today.

Will Mubarak be right about the future of Egypt?

He points out that ‘We see the democracy the United States spearheaded in Iran and with Hamas, in Gaza, and that’s the fate of the Middle East.'” If Mubarak is right then Israel will be surrounded by sworn enemies on virtually every side. The risk to international trade in oil and beyond would be significant. Even if he is wrong, the trajectory of Israel’s enemies threatens our economic security.

Of course, the threat to the United States is self-imposed. Never has history recorded that a super power has elevated commerce to a level of dependence on those doing it harm. We indeed are the first such power that directly funds, in staggering amounts, those countries that harbor or fund our most principal enemies – and we have done so not for a moment in time but for years on end. History will hardly forgive such an error.

By failing to tap our own plentiful resources, that one policy decision has meant:

(1) that the price of oil is therefore artificially high,

(2) that we pay an inflated price for oil with dollars that fund terrorists,

(3) that we pay excessive foreign aid to buy “stability” among the troubled nations of the region,

(4) that we have higher defense budgets and more wars,

(5) that we have less jobs her at home,

(6) that we subsidize Americans who cannot afford the artificially high oil prices we helped create, and

(7) that we generally endure a self-imposed, lower standard of living.

It has been our national policy to do so much damage to ourselves as no civilizations before us has.

Now with the potential explosion of the Middle East staring us in the face, we face the potential of $5, $6 and $7 a gallon gasoline prices if not worse.

A wise country would plan ahead to avoid such danger. We would hire American workers, to tap American resources, to lower the price of oil, to reduce government subsidies to our citizens, to reduce the amount of money going to terrorists and the states that fund them, to lessen the need for foreign aid and to lower our defense budgets if not the need for war – all in the name of security and preserving our standard of living. So many benefits could flow from the reversal of one bad policy decision.

We would do all of that because if Jefferson and Madison could be wrong on France – I have no doubt that this Administration – which can hardly run this government – will be wrong in its estimates on how Egypt will fare.