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It'd be so great to see Americans come together against big oil. I mean it would renew my faith in humanity. Its a very difficult task, though, considering how completely dependent we are on big oil, as a nation.

This is the problem, though: a very small portion of the population has effective control over the bulk of the populace, which allows them to get away with the ludicrous profiteering which we've seen over the past decades.

Personally, I've done my very small part to put the pinch on oil and gas giants. I drive a fuel efficient vehicle (My old VW pulls off 30mpg, and my little scooter gets close to 90mpg) and I have a still in my back yard which when operating correctly produces enough alcohol to power either vehicle. Hardly an effective boycott -I still buy Castrol 10w30 and Valvoline 2-stroke oil. I still top off on premium from time to time, though for the scooter it becomes a lovely joke about the outrage at the 'six dollar fill up that will only last a month and a half!'.

These are, though, our only weapons against the big oil collusions; that we begin to treat their precious product as though it were ambergris (which I think could be used instead of diesel)and become so conservative with its use that we all as a population agree to radically alter our lifestyles, and invest in bicycles, horses, skateboards, etc.

We can, I believe, by and large become more self sufficient as individuals concerning our need for power and transportation, by distilling our own fuel alcohol (it's easy) and becoming thrifty consumers. I'm afraid, though, that all big oil would have to do in retaliation is sit on their product, and continue to manipulate pricing to maintain their profit margins regardless any real decline in sales.

The boycott cannot, therefore, effectively bring down big oil, nor even force it to capitulate, nor even cooperate. What it can do, though, is demonstrate the conviction and sincerity of the population in its will to affect change. Oversight and regulation of the current state of affairs, which is one of anti-trust, can lead to legislation which can lead us forward to the right state of affairs, which is the nationalization of energy resources.

Call it the historical dialectic, call it social or political evolution, or call it "the way it should be" -but there are several commodities which should and must inevitably be removed from private control, and made the common property and privilege of the citizenry.

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