We Need Another "Can Do" America!

America Will Find a Replacement for Petroleum Based Fuel.

Up to now, I have said nothing about the high price of gasoline as the result of the high price of crude oil. At least, I haven’t said anything, thus far, in this so-called crisis.

The reason? I’m not worried about it. For those of you who will declare that “ole Longstreet” is off his rocker, let me tell you something about America which will, I think, explain why I’m not worried about the world running out of oil.

I came of age in a “Can Do” America. Mine was an America, which could do anything it set its mind to do. Even the horizon, itself, presented no limits as we proved when we put men on the moon and brought them back home safely.

When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, the US military was at one of its lowest ebbs. America has always reduced it’s military after a war and we have always been blind-sided, when attacked, and had to build a mighty military machine almost from scratch. Even the Japanese admiral who led the forces making the raid on Pearl said he could own the Pacific for about six months, and then America would come after him. He had gotten his education here, in America, and he understood that once that sleeping giant was awakened, somebody would pay. In August of 1945, Japan paid.

Nobody considered that America might lose that war, either against the Japanese or the Germans. America doesn’t lose wars. Our leaders quit on us, as those did in Vietnam (and left our servicemen in shame over a war in which they had won every battle, but the leaders in Washington would not let them win the war).

Every problem this country has faced we have triumphed over. It just never occurred to us we could fail. Rarely did we have a plan “B” because we had so much confidence in ourselves that a plan “B” wasn’t needed!

Americans aren’t quitters although our leaders frequently are. Like the bunch we have in Congress now. But that is for another post.

As a youngster, growing up, the quickest way to get an old fashioned “whupping” was to say: “I can’t.” Those words were not uttered without punishment meted out to the person who spoke them. “Quitting” and “can’t” were two words not in our lexicon.

I distinctly remember my third grade teacher handing out paddling to any student who said: “I can’t”. That was good old corporal punishment with a wooden paddle, which would make your rear end sore for a couple of days. We referred to it as “The Board of Education!”

So, my generation was reared in an age when there were no horizons for America. There was nothing America could not do.

And I still believe that!

Now… this leads me to the Gasoline Problem. I happen to believe that we are nowhere near using up the last crude in the planet. However, that makes no difference, as many people DO believe it. The problem I have, you see, is that the America I grew up in, would be working night and day to find a fuel to replace the petroleum based fuels we are using today.

It bothers me to see government officials wringing their hands, as though near panic, over this little problem with crude oil. If they REALLY believed what they are telling us, they’d be trying to do something about it… and I don’t mean telling everyone to get a bicycle!

Did you know that during the Second World War, when allied troops cut off Germany’s supply of oil, that she liquefied coal and kept on truckin? Did you know Germany had city buses running on wood as fuel?

As a member of the “Can Do” Generation, you see, I KNOW that some one, somewhere, in America, in some obscure laboratory, most likely on a college campus, will, in fact, develop a fuel to replace the petroleum based fuels we are told we are running out of today. Just in the knick of time the discovery will emerge and America will not miss a beat! I believe this! In my tiny little mind, it is almost un-American NOT to believe it!

Now, do you begin to see why I am so upset with our leaders when they tell me we CAN’T round up 12 million illegals in our country and deport them? Do you? Heck, we rounded up millions of Japanese all over the Pacific Ocean and sent them, and took them, home. We rounded up millions of Germans and Italians and sent them to either meet their Maker, or home, to get re-acquainted with their families.

So, if America is serious about finding a replacement for petroleum based fuels then we ought to get busy. The sooner we get started the sooner we will have the answer and… WE WILL HAVE THE ANSWER! I don’t mean “Corn Squeezings”, either. My family made, sold, and drank that stuff for years. We knew it would probably burn in an internal combustion engine… at least some of it would. But we didn’t call it Ethanol. We called it “Moonshine” or “White Lightening”. No, Ethanol is not the answer. It’s just a “stop gap” until we find THE fuel.

What we need, more that a replacement for petroleum-based fuels, (in America) is more of the “Can Do” spirit of the Greatest Generation and their spawn. Then you would see mountains moved and problems solved.

I believe in my country and my countrymen. Yeah, I know that is old fashioned. You’ll probably not be surprised to learn that I still get a catch in my throat and a tear in my eye when I recite the pledge to the Flag. You see, I am convinced that America is God’s gift to this planet. America did not just “happen”. She was created by a people who were risk takers, who were bold, who were brave, and fearless, and in some cases even reckless. These were the “cast-off” people of other societies, which I believe, God sent here to populate this land. They are not easily beaten. Nor are their descendants.

When the time is right… we WILL have the problem solved. I believe that!

Longstreet