Gas Prices, the Election and the Future of the World

A USA Today/Gallup poll last week found that 42 percent of the roughly 1,000 adults surveyed across the United States believed President George W. Bush’s administration had “deliberately manipulated the price of gasoline so that it would decrease before this fall's elections.” The White House, or course, denied it.

But given the strong ties of the Republicans generally, and this Administration in particular, with the oil industry, the industry has every reason to help the Republicans hold onto Congress, and polls make clear that Bush's popularity has always been tied to the price of gasoline. It doesn't take a "conspiracy" with the White House, or even overt collusion among the oil companies, to achieve the desired effect.

The power of the industry is staggering, and the Bush/Cheney/Energy Alliance is one of the greatest barriers to sustainability that we face.