Despite my ability to shrug off other people’s nonsense (especially that coming from my liberal friends) and laugh at the enormous collection of bumper stickers many find the need to display on their cars, I was seriously shocked yesterday by a 20-something driving his huge, five-miles-to-the-gallon truck with a bumper sticker that read: When Bush Took Office, Gas Was $1.46. Incongruity? Emotional wisdom?

Call me ignorant…perhaps this instigating sticker has been around for a while, but these young people who cease to educate themselves on the issues before they proudly display messages such as this are like sheep just following the message of their flock (aka Obama disciples) and what is cool for the time.

I have always been without peer in making my own educated decisions based on researched facts, evaluating both sides of the issues, while staying as far away as possible from the liberal .org groups and the media trying to skew our views. But, people believe what they hear from those closest to them because, heck, why not? It’s much more trouble and much more time consuming to do what I do—research the issues, find the truth and make my own decisions, despite whether people think I’m right or wrong, left or right, cool or out of touch.

The bottom line is this: regardless of the issues as to why the gas price is what it is today, the majority of folks in America expect certain things in life to stay the same (as much as they tout change), such as trash pickup on Tuesdays, the cost of a haircut, a hotdog…and gas prices. 

But, in case people have forgotten (despite our Founding Fathers’ goals), that this is a free market. Inflation and global events affect just about everything in America and the world (let us not forget that the present cost for snacks, such as corn chips, that has skyrocketed much due to Al Gore and his melodramatic movie and push for ethanol, causing farmers to sell corn at a higher price for gas rather than selling it for the food it is and that it creates. 

The all-time peak in gas prices was in March 1981 following the start of the Iran-Iraq War the year before when gas prices rose to $2.50 per gallon. When adjusted for inflation, gas cost more in 1981 than it does today. And in 1973, following the OPEC Oil Embargo, gas prices averaged $1.81 per gallon. During those years, gas prices tripled, rising by almost 50 percent from 1973 to 1975, and by 80 percent in 1979 and 1980. People complain today because gas prices have doubled in a little more than three years. Take a look at the facts, the history. It’s been worse…much worse, and this administration has been through more, much more, than any other in history. 

Back to current times: The first six years of George Bush’s term were economically positive. Just over one year ago today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit an all-time high, and consumer confidence was soaring. The price per gallon of gasoline was approximately $2.20. But now, after two years of a Democratic-run Congress, consumer confidence has crashed and gas is now teetering between $3.50 and $4.00 per gallon.

It remains amazing to me how many people liken the gas prices to Bush and his low approval rating. Through the years of our many presidents, approval ratings have been low and high…some much lower than that for President Bush. But people see the here and now, the gas prices of today and not 30 years ago, and they even forget what happened last year—it’s in the past and it’s forgotten (literally).