In October of 1973 the members of the “Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries” (OAPEC – later shortened to OPEC) announced an oil embargo against the United States and other countries which had supported Israel in the 1973 Yom Kippur War.  The effects were almost instantaneous.  The cost of a barrel of crude oil quadrupled in less than a year, gasoline prices skyrocketed, long lines developed at filling stations and gasoline at any price was unavailable in many parts of the country, particularly the Northeast.  Citizens in liberal controlled states like Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts howled in protest.

Meanwhile, a growing number of people in the oil producing states like Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana began putting bumper stickers on their vehicles which read “Let Them Freeze In The Dark”.  For years, the liberals on both the East and West Coasts had fought against expansion of offshore drilling or any other attempt to gain energy independence for the nation.  They fought against coal fired and nuclear power plants, they demanded vast areas of the country, from Alaska to the Gulf Coast be declared Federal land, and kept from any form of energy production.  Now, the chickens, the size of Condors, were coming home to roost, and the folks out there in “Flyover Country” didn’t care that gasoline, and more importantly home heating oil, were not going to be available in normal quantities that winter.

The continued creeping expansion of Federal power over the individual states is creating unrest in the heartland once again.  You can no longer leave a given state which doesn’t conform to your way of life or value system and move to one which does.  The Federal government will control more and more of your life on all levels no matter where you live in this country if the “Progressives” have their way.  The election of Donald Trump to the Presidency should have been an eye opener to the Democrats on the left, but it was not.  Instead of realizing the mood shift in the country, with the exception of the Democrat controlled areas, the Progressives have doubled down on their attempt to gain more control over our lives by the self stated goal of “Resistance” to the Trump administration and the goals it was elected to achieve.  So far, the Republican controlled House and Senate have not figured out that their base is not with them if they will not stand by the administration and pass the legislation they promised to the electorate if it would give them control of the government.

The states in “Flyover Country” control domestic energy production, and more importantly most food production as well, with the exception of the fruits and vegetables which are grown in California.  Now, a radical group of individuals is calling for that state to leave the union.  It’s referred to as “CALEXIT”.  We’ve had enough of the fruits and nuts that California seems to produce in vast quantities anyway.  They better be careful, both on the “Left Coast” and in the Northeast.  The new bumper sticker might read “Let Them Freeze, Starve And Die Of Thirst In The Dark”!  Remember, Colorado supplies the majority of the water that Southern California uses as well.