The Gasoline Conspiracy

There's a lot being written and talked about alternatives to fossil fuels these days, but very little in terms of a solution. Electric cars, public transportation, the list goes on and on with very little common sense being thrown into the mix. So let's take a look at the problems and prospective solutions.

Problems: Fossil fuels require drilling for oil, which is environmentally hazardous (particularly with the advent of "fracking"), non-renewable, so when it runs out, it's gone. Burning fossil fuels pollute the air. Oil spills in offshore facilities, pollutes the oceanic environment- basically, we can all agree that fossil fuels pollute.

Solutions: Electric cars. This may sound pretty good except for a few troubling and frequently overlooked items. First, electricity has to come from somewhere. Unless you put a lightning rod on top of your car and hope for a thunderstorm, you have to get it from somewhere. Producing electricity requires either burning coal (a pollutant) or diesel fuel (another pollutant) or nuclear plants. None of these is really a viable alternative if you really think about it. Also there's something ingrained in the American psyche... the need for speed. I may not be Albert Einstein, but I'm fairly confident you're not going to go to a NASCAR race and see a bunch of guys get strapped into electric cars and whiz around the track at 45 mph and draw much of a crowd. This is clearly NOT the alternative we're looking for.

However, this is not to say that there isn't a good alternative... one that's been with us since the beginning- alcohol. In the early days of the automotive industry, alcohol was the choice of auto manufacturers... particularly Henry Ford, the man that made driving available to almost all Americans. What could have happened? The answer is simple... John D. Rockefeller, the man who gave us Prohibition.

According to David Blume, The Dude that beat crude, and many others, prohibition wasn't about Americans drinking too much. It was a plot engineered by Rockefeller who owned Standard Oil, to prevent Henry Ford from producing alcohol burning vehicles. Standard Oil, like any other mega-corporation seeks to eliminate competition. J.D. Rockefeller, in fact is quoted as saying that: "competition is a sin." So he donated $4 million to the Women's Temperance League, a bunch of whacked out blue-hairs that hate alcohol. They, along with a bunch of zealot preachers lobbied Congress and the 18th Amendment became law.

If you really think about it, alcohol is preferable to fossil fuel for a number of reasons. It burns clean, and doesn't pollute. You don't have to drill for it, thus eliminating the potential for oil spills and other disasters. It is farmed and is therefore a renewable source for fuel. This in itself is good for the economy as well as the environment. One of the best sources for alcohol production is hemp.

It burns clean, it's renewable, it's good for the economy, good for the environment... what's the downside? The oil companies hate it and the government is run by mega-corporations, not we the people. Where are all the environmentalists, why aren't we hearing from them? They're too busy riding around in ships that burn tons of diesel fuel trying to save the whales, I guess. If you really consider all the advantages and the downside (I can't think of any), alcohol is really the best option. Existing vehicles can be easily and inexpensively converted. Oh yeah, about that need for speed thing... here's 3500 hp of alcohol burning fury! (2:17)