Why America Lucks Out

Obama the Clairvoyant told us in 2010, “We can’t drill our way to cheap gas prices.” We did it anyway.  A bunch of oil patch engineers who were just struggling in the oil bust in the late nineties came up with fracking. Someday a sixth grade history teacher will be talking to the class about the great developments of the millennial era and surely fracking will be in the lesson. How does America get so lucky?

About 2005 petroleum engineers and geologists realized the technique of fracking could apply to numerous oil shales that had a spotted history of production or even no production.  Shales are the source rocks for petroleum and natural gas, but traditional production was from reservoir rocks of better porosity and permeability nearby.  But by tapping the shales, a new world or giant production occurs.  From 2007 to 2014 US production more than doubled and matched Saudi Arabia.  The OPEC countries, in panic began to pump oil in a game of chicken.  Could they break the upstart Americans before they put Arab royalty owners in the also-ran category?  Even in 2015 this looked doubtful, although they could inflict damage to the marketplace prices. 

This phenom of American innovation makes the rest of the world scratch their head.  How can USA always come up with so much new stuff? After all, aren’t there smart people everywhere?  Don’t the Russians have chess masters and can’t the Chinese hack? Wasn’t France the world leader in new ideas throughout the 19^th century?  And don’t others have the oil resources waiting to be exploited—Argentina, Brazil, Russia, Venezuela, China, the Middle East?  Why is America such an exception to the rule and Canadians with them?

Our foreign exchange kids and son who spent a year on exchange in Germany provided the answer.  In Europe and the East, education now surpasses USA.  But if you want to change your German farm from raising cattle to hogs, you can’t do it without a production permit from the government—takes months. Acountry with many educated unemployed is India.  It takes an act of Parliament and a lot of bribery of local officials to do a reasonable-sized business.

That’s because the world of dictators, elites, and educated classes have seized control.  America lets people arise out of nowhere to do great things.  The Wright Brothers just owned a bicycle shop.  The Okies and Texans who invented fracking were common folks among the1400 small, independent oil producers. The individuals who owned the mineral rights were not a state government but individuals who let the drillers try something new. And the rest of the common folks didn’t riot from the occasional tiny earthquake. Instead, most folks cheered them on.

In the statist world, they have geniuses and prodigies and tycoons.  But what do you do with the remaining 99%?  They just manage them.  In America we place millions of bets on common folks, and every once in a while a payout occurs.  Luck or Dreams Fulfilled?

The exchange kids could see this.  For they had lived in places where elite banks controlled finances, taxes and regulation were rampant, and you had to watch out for pick pockets. But the worse condition was when government and business were in cahoots.  Individuals aren’t lucky enough to be in cahoots, so government populists promise all sorts of entitlements that make people think they have an “in”.  The end result is that it just keeps the masses on the plantation.

America is the exception to the statist world.  We demand to be free to pursue our dreams, crazy ideas, faith, or what just seems right to us.  We are a free society that is willing to give encouragement to millions of small people, not just the guys who are in cahoots.    This is what is meant by American Exceptionalism.  We are the exception to the rule.  That is why people flock to this country.  You can be the person you want to be in America.  You can have an American Dream and pursue it.

But some in America dislike this notion. The American Dream is just wealth. Better we should have the security of big government, a government that administers, directs, and regulates. They want cahoots, elites and charismatic populists.  They fear people who seem motivated by faith. And so they are trying to upend the dreams in favor of a complete corporate one.  They accuse the rest of us of being racist and bigoted. They demand we credit government for a good economy rather than the ingenuity and perseverance of the American people.  Did government or the elites create the Model T?  Radio? Television? Polio vaccine? Mobile Apps?  Neither did they create fracking and the oil boom.  Big oil companies were slow to adopt fracking plays.  Obama was found in contempt of court for trying to ban offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.  He drags his heels on drilling federal land, and uses his EPA to oppose fossil fuels any way possible.

The people still vote to be free.  It doesn‘t matter what race or tribe you come from if you have a great idea or product. Upon seeing something new, the typical American response is, “Why didn’t I think of that!” We still want to be free to raise our kids.   And that is why conservatives outnumber liberals 2 to 1.  We got the dream.