To the editor:

I believe our leadership in Washington, Republican and Democrat, Congress, Senate and White House, need to remember that they are working for the people, not the corporations.

In this particular case, I refer to Big Oil.

Big Oil earns an estimated $200-plus billion a year in profit. They receive over $22.4 billion a year in U.S. subsidies, including tax credits and exploration and development monies. That comes out to almost $70 per man, woman and child in this country in subsidies alone.

If we cut every single subsidy to Big Oil, they would remain the most profitable industry in the world.

Within 24 hours of Hurricanes Harvey, Katrina and others, and within 24 hours of any Middle Eastern war or unrest, prices shoot up. The oil in the pipelines at those moments are not affected by those issues, and when the issues are over, they take months to lower, long after the oil affected by those issues has run through the system.

Congress and the president (Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump) should have put the oil executives in prison for price gouging during a crisis and cut their subsidies. Instead they accepted millions in campaign contributions.

But I cannot blame Washington, D.C. I blame us. Until we as a people care and do something, we are going to get the government we deserve.