Oil is the lifeblood of our society

Oil is the lifeblood of our society.

Someone recently asked me why oil was so important to us. Her question was why don't we pull our soldiers back to America and tell the Arabs to keep their oil? On the surface this innocuous question held merit, but after considerable reflection it hid an ominous scenario.
To begin with we do not produce enough oil to even sustain our own domestic consumption. Just as our bodies are fueled by blood, our entire economy, in fact, our entire survival as a country depends on oil.
Consider this horrifying plot: Imagine what would happen if our access to oil is completely cut off. Now, combine this with a nationwide terrorist attempt to destroy what oil reserves we have left. Refineries are blown up, gas farms and gas stations are bombed and major oil depots are destroyed. Very little gas or oil is left with no prospects for new supplies because foreign countries, especially Arab states, do not have the means to resupply us.
Terrorist, (religious zealots who would like to see the world reverted to a seventh century nomadic economy) finally woke up and realized oil is what the world needs the most and have successfully destroyed their massive oil reserves with dirty nuclear bombs. All the oil in the Middle East is contaminated with deadly radioactivity and completely useless. Should the fanatic mullahs in Iran get the nuclear option and hit Israel, with Israeli retaliation, the plot will be the same, Armageddon because of no oil.
What little the world has left will run out rapidly and our strategic reserves are only a drop in the bucket.
Terrified consumers fight for what little is left because they need gas to power their vehicles which is their only means to and from work or to and from the stores. What they fail to realize is that getting to work or to the store no longer matters.
Without the millions of trucks (that run on diesel or gas) that supply the stores with consumer goods the shelves quickly empty. No food can be delivered. In all cities, major and minor, food riots are kindled. First the supermarkets themselves are emptied then those food storage warehouses within walking distance are plundered, emptied and many destroyed. Who knows what desperate starving people seeking to survive are capable of doing? The chilling possibilities are endless. Should this happen at the onset of winter, millions will freeze.
Without oil to power the power plants that produce electricity all major industry grinds to a halt. Millions of people are without work and without a means to get to a job that no longer exists. There are no factories making can goods, baking bread, and producing clean water. Every food source we as a society depend on has come to a grinding halt.
Americans in general and city people in particular do not stock their home pantries and refrigerators with a long-term supply of edible goods. Without electricity appliances cease to work and perishable food items soon rot. Once people have consumed their last can of beans, their last box of crackers, or their last bag of flour, there is no more food available. Fast food stores who run on electricity are unable to provide food sources and those who can quickly run out. Supplies rapidly dwindle then disappear completely.
The millions upon millions of people in the cities fan out into the countryside in a frantic search for food. Towns organize to resist the massive onslaught of desperately hungry people but they are overcome by overwhelming numbers. Only a few very isolated and strongly fortified communities survive. Law and order disintegrates. Survival of the meanest and fittest becomes the norm.
By then disease has started to take its toll. Without electricity for running water to flush away waste, previously controllable diseases quickly become pandemic. Millions die from diseases such as typhus, dengue fever, encephalitis and starvation setting the stage for even more deadly diseases and massive death.
What is our military be doing during this horrifying scenario? Nothing! Without gas and oil to fuel their vehicles, ships and planes, they are effectively neutralized. Plus, they cannot deliver from factories that have been plundered and no longer produce. Many military personnel desert to help their starving families while the remainder hunker down behind strong military barriers to protect their own very limited food sources. The government is powerless. They cannot decide which way to use their limited oil resources. Just like the military, they hide behind strong security to await the inevitable, to pick up the pieces. America will survive but will pay an enormous price in lives lost. Recovery will be slow and painful.
This may read like a chilling Science Fiction scenario but as you can see oil is the lifeblood of our society. Without oil we will cease to exist as a nation. We do not have the luxury of a nineteenth century horse and buggy economy or the time to revert to one, nor do we yet have an integrated technology that is not dependent on oil. In short, because of our dependence on oil, we are presently between a rock and a very hard spot.