In 1979 came the Iranian Revolution which caused petroleum prices to soar. There were violent protests and a convoy of truckers encircled the Capitol, demanding lower fuel prices and an end to regulation and the Interstate Commerce Commission.
President Carter responded with a speech to the nation in which he promised to “win the energy war” by setting quotas on foreign oil, meeting any increase in demand with our own production and conservation. Also promised:
The nation’s first solar bank to help achieve the goal of 20% of our energy coming from the sun by 2000.
A tax on oil companies’ windfall profits.
An “energy security corporation” in which the public could invest in bonds to replace 2-1/2 million barrels of imported oil per day by 1990.”
To ask Congress for authority to implement a mandatory conservation and standby gasoline rationing.
Ten billion dollars to strengthen our public transportation systems.
The president also called for Americans to sacrifice and do with less, calling this an act of patriotism. And not only did he ask us to save fuel by carpooling, driving slower and less often, taking public transportation whenever we can, and turning down our thermostats.
He also preached:
In a nation that was proud of hard work, strong families, close-knit communities, and our Fatih in God, too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption. Human identity is not longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns…Two-thirds of our people do not even vote…….You often see a balanced and a fair approach that demands sacrifice, a little sacrifice from everyone, abandoned like an orphan without support and without friends….We often think of conservation only in terms of sacrifice. In fact, it is the most painless and immediate way of rebuilding our nation’s strength. Every gallon of oil each one of us saves is a Two-thirds-new form of production. It gives us more freedom, more confidence, that much more control over our own lives…( my emphasis). I do not promise you that this struggle for freedom will be easy. I do not promise a quick way out of our nation’s problems, when the truth is that the only way out is an all-out effort. What I do promise you is that I will lead our fight, and I will enforce fairness in our struggle, and I will ensure honesty. And above all, I will act. There is simply no way to avoid sacrifice.
Reagan won the presidency with “Make America Great Again”, setting the stage and providing the script for the mean spirited, clueless bully soon to enter the White House. One of the very first things Regan did was remove the thermal panels on the White House. He then went after the environment, permitted the externalization of untold costs and shredded the safety net that had been expanded by Carter.