We were lied to?

James Kunstler on the Iraq War and Peak Oil.

For my money, the “we were lied to” chorus only represents the obdurately self-righteous cluelessness in every band of the American political spectrum. We lied to ourselves. We continue to lie to ourselves every day. The US public barely understands the first thing about the energy predicament we’re in, and what it means for how we live in this country — or how we get along with the rest of the world — and the news media tragically reflects that ignorance. We fantasize about being “energy independent” and still being able to drive to the mall three times a day to eat caesar salads grown on the other side of North America. Get this: we deserve exactly what is happening to us. We might as well keep on lying to ourselves to pretend that we are not descending into a dark phase of our own history. After all, the true basis of American life these days is to feel good about yourself no matter what you do.

This echoes Bill Gross in the previous post, saying how America has been deceiving itself about inflation. These aren’t partisan issues. It’s not Us vs. Them. It’s We. We as a country have big problems that need solving. The first step in solving problems is admitting they exist. The “feel good” ethos is just the other side of neocon American exceptionalism, both imply the US somehow is immune from rules that other countries are bound to. Dream world?