Oil addiction

Dear Editor,
The recent spike in gas prices has made for some very interesting responses across our country. There is an abundance of talk based mostly on the idea that we need more oil and at a lower cost. Recently, The Morning Sun ran a letter by Joseph Yantis that appears to follow this line of thought and today, I received a computer call from someone calling themselves “Freedoms Watch” that also blames our government for high gas prices. I don’t like the high prices any more than the next guy, but whatever happened to “supply and demand?” Is it really time to have to have our government get involved when we don’t like high prices?
The terminology being used most is “decrease American’s dependence on foreign oil” when in fact it should be, “decrease American’s addiction to oil.” My parents’ generation fought in WWII and they know how to conserve, especially during war-time, they cut back on everything they used and they re-used everything they could. Maybe it’s time that we learned something from the “old-timers” and stop wasting our limited resources. Nationwide we are in a collective state of denial with regard to our addiction, refusing to acknowledge the difference between what we need and what we want.
Rather than facing our addiction we want our dealers to supply more and at a cheaper rate. It’s time for an intervention.
The first step to recovery is admitting that we have an abuse problem.
J. Karl Lipscomb
Pittsburg