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Double, double, oil and trouble,

Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

Many of you will recognize this famous line by three witches from Shakespear’s “Macbeth,” and realize that instead of oil the word in the first line is toil. Let’s pretend, however, that he was writing today. What would he be telling us?

If the price of oil should double and then double again, there would be real trouble. People would be burning up with anger, and national energy policy would be bubbling up to the top of the political issues. The three witches are obvious. The executive office and the Senate and House of Representatives.

I’m not refering to only now — this goes back at least to 1973 when there was a Middle East crisis and gasoline prices jumped to 50 cents! Panic in the streets. Gas lines at the pump. Lower the speed limit, Wear sweaters, etc.

Was a long-term energy policy adopted to wean ourselves off foreign oil? If there was, I missed it, and it has also failed. One of my favorite FDR quotes is, “It is common sense to take a method and try it: If it fails, admit it frankly, and try another. But above all, try something.”

But alas, my poor Yorick, there lies the problem. Common sense and the witches are not compatible. Everybody in the nation seems to realize that we must be willing to try “ALL” options available to us to stop the flow of $700 billion per year to the Middle East oil cartel. But not Congress.

The Republicans want one thing, the Democrats want another. The Republicans blame the Democrats and the Democrats blame the Republicans. Instead of staying in Washington and hammering out a short-term and a long-term solution, they go home to campaign for re-election.

What does that tell you? As if you didn’t already know. Their return to their priviliged position (they can afford $4, $5, or $6 a gallon) is more important than the future of the U.S. economy, national security and our pocket book. You have all had a chance to listen to the Democratic leaderships (the majority party in Congress) excuses for doing nothing, and you have had a chance to listen to the Republican solutions.

My political philosophies are closely linked to that of the Republican Party, but I would vote, and will, for any candidate running against Ron Kind, Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl, not because they are members of the Democratic Party, but because they are the bone heads that are there now.

Latest polls show the national approval rating for Congress is 9 percent, the lowest in history. Why anyone would vote for any incumbent who has been in office for 10 years or more is totally beyond my comprehension.

Joseph Upton is a retired Holmen High School teacher and former member of the Holmen School Board.