I’ve changed my mind. I think issue number one in this Presidential election is not Iraq, but rather, to put it crudely, the price of gasoline. To phrase it another way, it is dependence on oil. To be even more precise, it is dependence on oil from the Middle East (except for Iraq) and Venezuela and Russia. We, i.e., Western Civilization, absolutely must not be in the position of needing to buy oil from the Saudi royal family, the mullahs in Iran, Vladimir Putin, or Hugo Chavez. We must not be the victims of extortion. This is really the same issue as Iraq of course. It is the same war, just a difference in emphasis. We are financing our enemies, in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Pakistan, and around the world.
The Democrats are right about some things. We cannot drill our way out of this. Drilling is good, and I am in favor of it, off-shore, in ANWR, oil shale in Colorado, etc., but increasing the supply of “domestic” oil can only make a marginal difference. Oil is a fungible commodity, bought and sold in the global marketplace. Any reduction in price caused by increased supply will be shared by China, India, and every other oil-consuming nation. The only way that domestic U.S. production can wean America from Middle Eastern oil is if we produce everything we need and then nationalize the domestic oil industry. That would be a bad idea for many reasons.
We need alternatives. We need a massive, Iraq-size, or moon-shot size, national commitment to alternative sources of energy that are not just pork barrel schemes for Iowa farmers. We need lots more nuclear power. Neither candidate or party is really stepping forward on this issue. Pelosi won’t even allow an energy bill to come to the floor for fear that Republicans would add amendments to authorize more drilling, amendments which would pass by large majorities. But the Republicans are not proposing anything real either, other than more drilling.
The smartest thing anyone has said so far is John McCain’s proposal to authorize a 300 million dollar prize for a breakthrough in battery technology. Battery technology is the key, the most important aspect of the issue of energy, and its corollary, the war on terror. If we had batteries that would store electrical energy with negligible loss, which could be recharged in the time it takes to fill a tank with gasoline, and that did not depend on a chemical reaction, the war on terror would be won.
This will not happen without committed, intelligent, courageous Presidential leadership. I see no sign of that on the horizon from anybody.
The idea of offering a prize for a nation-saving invention is a crock—how ’bout a 600 million dollar prize for nuclear fusion or 900 million for a perpetual motion machine—but otherwise I agree with you. The country’s dependence on foreign oil is and has been the source of all kinds of bad shit for decades, the moreso when combined with our neurotic religious obsession with the state of Israel.
Why is it a crock? Because it depends on capitalist entrepreneurs, rather than the government, to be creative and innovative? I think it is a vastly superior way to spur invention than funding a government bureaucracy. Did the government come up with the personal computer or the Prius?
The United States does not have a religious obsession with Israel. Israel is the only prosperous, innovative, tolerant democracy in the Middle East. They are our natural allies in a region filled with our enemies. Maybe now Iraq will join them as a prosperous, democratic ally. That will be a good thing. Right?
Hi John –
Israel is not prosperous, or the US wouldn’t have to be pumping $millions$ monthly into it. “Maybe now Iraq will join them as a prosperous …..” You must be delusional …. Iraqis can’t even flush their toilets “now”.
But I’m so glad to see you’ve reasoned out what progressives have known for decades now …… alternatives to oil is the answer, the only answer. Too bad that you can’t shake the knee-jerk “drill up the whole place!” yet. Listen to yourself, we agree that whatever the domestic supply is, it won’t be very significant ….. and you’re still willing to mess up these national treasures with spills and such (they’re so common now, it takes a presidential photo op cancellation to hear about another spill) for insignificance? Come on John, join in – you love your *country* as much as I do. No drilling! It’s only so the oil companies can squeeze a few more $$ into their pockets. ($11.6+M – quarterly profit ain’t enough) S’not worth it.
yours – B-)
p.s. neither the pc nor the prius (bfd) came from a prize offering.
The U.S. has given Israel a lot of military aid, but not any economic aid. Are you seriously contending that Israel is not properous? On the other hand, the U.S., the U.N, and Europe give vast amounts of economic aid to the Palestinians.
I’m all for alternative energy, although I think the private sector will deliver it better than the government, if left alone. In the meantime, we still need to drill for oil and build nukes.
The profit margins of the American oil companies are mere fractions of the profit margins of Microsoft or Apple or any number of other companies. Also the oil companies paid something like three times as much in taxes as they made in profits. If you’re going to confiscate their profits, why not everybody’s profits? That worked out real well in the Soviet Union.
I don’t care if we give a prize offering for advances in battery technology. It doesn’t matter. Big brains are working feverishly on alternative energy. Why? Because there are big bucks to be made. Within the next decade we will see extraordinary advances in wind, solar, bio-fuels, and battery technolody, and it will have nothing to do with the government.