Tom Friedman put it very succinctly in today’s NY Times when he pointed out the power of petro- authoritarianism. Those whose hands are on the throttle feeding power to the world i.e., the President and all the President’s men and women AND those who feed the war machine and own all the tools that make the workshops of the world productive – they are the petro authoritarians.

Remember when Hitler was portrayed by Charlie Chaplin as a brush mustached clown? It does no good to show the clownish qualities of Hugo Chavez who reminds us of the performance of Hitler on the world stage. Mr. Chavez outdid Hitler for Hitler had concentration camps building while he spoke. Mr. Chavez promised to help out poor Americans who cannot afford to heat their houses in this winter of 2006-2007. Have you heard that despite the need of heating oil that this will be the hottest year on record in ONE MILLION years? Something does not quite add up here.

Cynics will tell you and I will attest to the obvious truth that when the U.S. elections are over the dip in oil prices at the gas pump will smooth out and start the upward trend again. Those same cynics will tell you that lowered gas prices will kill off the initiatives for alternative fuels when the election is over. I agree – that is a likely scenario. But Mr. Chavez and Mr. Ahmadinejad are merely players strutting on the world stage because they have their hand on the faucet that allows oil to flow in our direction. They know it and the world knows it and a grand time is had by everyone in the game - except for the victims.

Authoritarianism by any other name would still be the ability to dictate to others the tune they will dance to. The callers of the tune American gasoline users are getting used to are the relatively silent Saudis while the two heads of nominal democracies performed for cheering representatives of the nations paying rapt attention. Americans watch the prices go up, they shrug and pay the price for NOT paying attention.

We have authoritarian institutions at work here in America. The Executive Branch is the most visible. The Legislative Branch is one alert Americans can take care of in the next election. The Courts march to the right because a Conservative turn of the country made it so. But, Americans should be able to figure out what is going on and vote with the new machines that are supposed to be infallible. Please note that people in other countries are voting with their feet to come over to the U.S.A. because we still have the best chance for their survival. They know it and we should know it and certainly the petro authoritarians know it. Struggling in America is better than starving at home.