Syriana II: Bee County

Ever hear the saying "As Bee County goes, so goes America?" No? Me neither. But on Wednesday, the commissioner's court of Bee County, located around two hours south of Austin, passed a resolution urging their 33,000 residents to boycott ExxonMobil "until gasoline prices have been reducted to at least $1.30...

By Robert Wilonsky

April 28, 2006

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Ever hear the saying "As Bee County goes, so goes America?" No? Me neither. But on Wednesday, the commissioner's court of Bee County, located around two hours south of Austin, passed a resolution urging their 33,000 residents to boycott ExxonMobil "until gasoline prices have been reducted to at least $1.30 a gallon." If you're keeping score at home, that's asking for about a 100-percent reduction in gas prices, so, really, good luck with all that. But the fact that this tiny elected body in the heart of a red state is urging civil disobedience among its 33,000 residents suggests that the emnity toward Big Oil is a bit wider than the Dallas-based giant would like you to believe. I mean, we're not talking Santa Monica here.

More from a letter from Jimmy Martinez, who, as the Bee County Judge, serves as that community's top elected official:

"Now that oil companies have conditioned us to think that the cost of a gallon of gas is cheap at $2.00-$2.50, we need to take aggressive action to teach them that BUYERS control the market, not sellers. The only way we can see the price of gas go down is if we hit someone in the pocketbook by not purchasing their gasoline products. The goal of this resolution will create 'competitive gas prices.'"

Actually, like a lot of liberal ideas, this wouldn't quite work, even in theory. Gas is a tradeable commodity, and if, in an amazing act of solidarity, a widespread boycott of ExxonMobil gains momentum, the company could just sell its unused oil to the BPs and Shell Oil's of the world. If you really want to hurt ExxonMobil, ride your bike to work. --Matt Pulle

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