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It is certainly worth a try. Memorial Day weekend stats reported there were the lowest gasoline purchases at American gas stations during that holiday weekend than for any other in the past 30 years. Predictions are that the downward trend by consumers in gasoline use will continue at least into the summer. That's an encouraging sign, but is it enough?

At the same time, oil company toadies in the news media are slavishly predicting prices will continue to rise to $4.50 a gallon and beyond. Since no one in the American government, including any of the three Presidential candidates, seems honestly willing to stop and reverse the outrageous rip-off, maybe it is long past time for consumers to rise up and do something positive about it on their own.

The Middle East kingdoms and dictatorships, along with their greedy, super-rich American oil executives, have been shoving their grossly inflated profits in our faces for years. Therefore, other than taking Old West justice with some well-deserved necktie parties, the only effective weapon left for the consumer may be a strong, right-back-in-your-face national boycott.

Haven't we had more than enough of being ripped-off and knowing the American economy is being systematically devastated? Can we expect government help? Not likely. Therefore, one way of fighting back could be by selecting one big American gasoline company and staying away from its pumps, and keeping away until gas prices are reduced significantly by all oil companies.

Which oil giant should be the target of the nationwide boycott? Maybe the one that gave its greedy top executives the fattest salaries and billions in bonuses last year. Of course, big oil has a lot of weapons to fight such an action, including considerable influence in the media, sweet deals with Washington politicians and by coming up with another of their contrived oil shortage routines.

However, American consumers have the ultimate weapons that none of the citizens of the oil cartel dictatorships have. We can stage a national boycott, and we can also exercise our right to clean House, Senate and every irresponsible elected government official who is bowing down and/or is in the pocket of the oil industry. Since our ineffective political leaders are not doing the job they were hired to do, we should kick the do-nothings out and elect honest advocates who'll work for the citizens.

Will an oil boycott work? No one knows, but it is certainly worth a try.

Learn more about this author, Ted Sherman.
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