Independence and Political Significance: Response 3

The Center for American progress is a close advisor to the Obama administration, and it has now put in its two-cents about the oil spill. CAP wants for there to be an independent investigation of exactly what went wrong. They're encouraging scrutiny and they're being zealous about it. They want to persuade the Obama Administration as well as, most likely, the public, to call for responsibility from the oil company that caused this disaster. BP is in the cross-hairs, but the article also calls for oversight agencies to be investigated as well. This makes sense to me -- you can't just pick up the CEO of BP and hold him responsible for all that went wrong. BP is one of the top 5 most profitable companies on the planet (CNN), and their product is difficult to extract and as environmentally complicated as it is essential to the American lifestyle.

The article also brings up previous administrations and their disasters, and how they have handled those. Coincidentally it doesn't mention Exxon-Valdez, which seems to be on the tip of every reporter's tongue now. Instead it discusses Three-Mile Island and the explosion of the Challenger. This was a welcome change of pace for me, after reading numerous articles on this subject -- treating this as any other national disaster, not just an environmental nightmare. Of course it is an environmental nightmare, but if you think about the policy makers of the country, many people to the right side of the political spectrum like making the environment some sort of political issue they won't get behind. Clarifying this event not just as something that hurts the environment, but as a national tragedy on the level of the crash of the Challenger helps unite everyone, even those who may not care about the environment or have connections to the gulf.

I never doubted this author's credibility, and not just because I concur with their views. The historical knowledge, direct sources from CAP, I feel confident in their intelligence and journalistic integrity. I read many articles that seemed to be pulling ideas out of thin air -- suggesting solutions without giving context, reason, or historical backup, but this author clarifies and compounds their ideas with multiple well thought out reasons.

Overall, I agree with CAP's idea and with the article's suggestions. It's not that I want someone to blame, but I think that those who mess up on this level should be held responsible, and that most importantly, we should learn from this. Haven't we been shown enough that when people resist safety regulations (of any sort -- in growing of food, in manufacturing, in mining, in, ahem, wall street), at one point it all hits the fan, someone gets really hurt and they're screwed. They resist regulations because it's 'bad for business', then disaster strikes like this, which is worse for business. BP's spill killed 11 people and will wreak havoc on the poor environment, Last time I checked it's better to lose a few dollars than to lose lives. Personally, I wish corporations and regulatory agencies (i.e. the FDA, which is in the pocket of many companies) should man up, count their losses and, what a brilliant thought, stop freaking killing people!