Thursday, March 21, 2013

Serving Two Masters

Oil
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There are a couple of Bible verses warning about trying to serve two masters.  Both say the same thing:  "No one can serve two masters.  Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to one and despise the other."  As I wrote last week, our governments (local, state, and federal) seem to be trying to do just that.  In addition to the impossibility of supporting two opposite sides without favoring one over the other, it makes politicians and elected  and appointed officials seem schizophrenic.  Here are a couple of very recent examples:

In Virginia the General Assembly (which is made up of the Senate and the House of Delegates) have come up with a plan to increase transportation funding.  Along with restructuring the gasoline and diesel taxes, they want to impose a $100 a year fee on hybrid vehicles.  (Check out the details at Huffington Post.)

While you're thinking about that one, consider the state-endorsed Earth Day poster competition among school children in Utah.  This contest is administered through the Utah Division of Oil, Gas, and Mining and sponsored by the Salt Lake Petroleum Section of Society of Petroleum Engineers.  The Earth Day poster theme?  "Where Would WE Be Without Oil, Gas, and Mining."   (Read more here.  And here is a link to the contest details.)

While government officials seemingly embrace the idea of conserving energy and have long endorsed the premise behind Earth Day, they also want to make nice with the oil, gas, and mining corporations that help pave the way for them to continue in their jobs.  Definitely serving two masters.  I wonder whom they despise.

1 comment:

EcoGrrl said...

Ugh. Good post though. Know what's funny? When you mention the 'serve two masters' quote all I can think of is the local auto body repair shop that uses that in all of their TV ads to talk about insurance companies.

PS thanks for being my interview subject for this week :)