A year before the presidential election, with political capitalism rising from its four-year slumber, Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton may have the most radical solution to one of the nation’s most serious issues.

In an article in The South End, a student newspaper out of Wayne State University, Senator Clinton is moving toward nationalizing the oil industry, should she be elected President. While gas prices in the country continue to climb or even just plateau at rather high rates, solutions to the problem seem to have gone to an extreme. Senator Clinton’s plan may be one too far to the left, but perhaps she has turned our attention to what can happen when we don’t take stock of the real problem.

The problem behind the oil industry is that it has become a separate entity from this country. According to an article published by Marketwatch.com, Exxon Mobile, Conoco Phillips and the Chevron Corp. have posted profits of $72 billion. Even more confusing is the fact that these profits are actually a step down from other record profits in recent years, and they are down because reserves of oil are becoming harder and harder to find.

We now have two problems. Oil companies continue to have large profits while prices have not decreased, and consumers are relying on a fuel supply that drains their wallets and is decreasing in abundance.

However, the problem is not merely a matter of economics. The Environmental Integrity Project recently published a report showing that only nine oil refineries in the United Sates account for a third of cancer causing emissions.

We are paying money to a system that poisons us and then raises the rate to do it.

Worse yet, the problem is spreading. The news network CBS 11, out of Dallas, covered a story on how oil is being stolen from Iraq. In the article, Mikel Morris, a former employee for the State Department’s Iraq Reconstruction Management Organization, states “between 2 million and 500,000 barrels a day are probably unaccounted for in Iraq.” The story also points to the fact the money from this stolen oil is used to fund sectarian violence, insurgents and corrupt officials.

We have allowed a commodity to get to the point where it dictates our politics, and now, the politics of a foreign nation. A solution such as nationalizing the oil industry is not the answer. Nationalization will give too much power to one source, an idea which capitalism and free trade can never support. However, allowing things to continue as they are would be just as detrimental, if not more, to consumers.

We need leaders who see the need to enforce current laws, which eliminate industry collusion. We need leaders who honestly commit money and time to alternative fuel sources. We need leaders who will pull on the reigns of big businesses.

As the bets and the promises fly into the political atmosphere to compete for the vote in ’08, remember that now is not the time for idealism. Pragmatic and realistic solutions are needed. The flash and dazzle of politics will come to a television set near you, and oil will be among the issues mentioned. Remember, you either vote to follow empty promises or change a dying system of fuel.