IT IS OFTEN said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. In that spirit, America should mend fences with Venezuela -- one of our largest oil suppliers -- by emulating its economic and political values. With oil prices refusing to go down and Old Man Winter refusing to let up, there is no better energy policy for America than nationalizing the Venezuelan-owned Citgo Petroleum Corporation.
Ever since Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez survived a 2004 recall election that he blamed on the U.S., relations have been rocky. The Bush administration has been dismayed as Chavez has cozied up with Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, supported Iran's nuclear weapons program and aided Colombian narco-terrorists. At the same time, Chavez has led the opposition to American-style capitalism and the administration's Free Trade Area of the Americas.
Tensions with Venezuela involve not only policy, but also personalities. In March, Chavez accused the administration of plotting to assassinate him. The Washington Post has reported that he makes crude sexual references about Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and derisively calls her "condolence." Earlier this month, instead of joining heads of state at the Summit of the Americas in Argentina, Chavez led a violent anti-Bush street riot that led to rampant bombings and looting.
For the sake of America's oil-dependent economy, this state of affairs cannot continue. According to the Department of Energy, we imported 11 percent of our oil from Venezuela in 2003. By comparison, Saudi Arabia -- regarded as the infamous benchmark for American oil dependence -- supplied 14.5 percent of America's oil. If relations with Venezuela spiral out of control, the U.S. will become even more beholden to the Saudis.
To that end, the U.S. should follow Venezuela's example and nationalize (i.e. confiscate and give to the government) the foreign businesses within our borders, beginning with the Citgo oil conglomerate. The spike in gas prices after Hurricane Katrina showed just how crucial refineries are to keeping supplies steady and affordable. According to the Post, it just so happens that Citgo, which Venezuela itself nationalized in 1990, controls nearly seven percent of the refining capacity in the U.S.
Not only would nationalizing Citgo insulate our economy from oil shocks by ensuring a steady supply of refined gasoline and heating oil, but it would also serve as the highest form of praise to Chavez. Ordinarily, only a crazy man could be happy if another country nationalizes his country's property. But considering how much Chavez detests American capitalism, he should be thrilled to see us follow Venezuela's brand of socialism, under which most of the country's foreign oil and steel companies were nationalized in the 1970s. Since Chavez hates free trade, he should welcome our willingness to embrace free trade's antithesis -- taking by force. Heck, after we nationalize Venezuela's American refineries, we should also nationalize the oil supplies on Chavez's home turf. If Chavez opposes trading for goods and services on the free market, then the only alternative is to seize them.
In any event, nationalizing Citgo should not provoke much of a reaction at all from Chavez, other than camaraderie.After all, Chavez has already pledged to give away supplies of Venezuelan oil to needy Americans this winter. While some see this as a ploy to embarrass President Bush, it could also be entirely altruistic. Assuming the latter, surely this man of the masses could not object if Americans were to allocate oil "from each according to his ability and to each according to his need." Since Venezuelans have a prodigious ability to produce oil, and Americans have an insatiable need, why shouldn't we just confiscate it?
Chavez has the right idea: Capitalism and private property rights are so bourgeois and counterrevolutionary, but for the fact that they also make America the strongest country in the world. Rising energy costs and foreign oil dependence may threaten our economy. But once we start nationalization, the outflow of trillions of dollars of foreign investment will be far worse. Perhaps we should just stick with capitalism and let Hurricane Hugo destroy his own country.
Eric Wang's column usually appears Wednesdays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at ewang@cavalierdaily.com.
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