People (even on the Right) who talk about “energy independence” miss the point. We can always supply all our energy without the Middle East - just the prices might cause a Depression.
In a “free” American market, the OPEC cartel will always be in play because they will always set their prices low enough for US companies to buy.
The issue is freeing up suppliers to find and process the supply easily (including by shutting down the EPA), and enable lower and lower prices. And if the Middle East explodes, prices will still go up and shock markets, but not so badly.
But, the progressives are trying to save the country; from the horrors of capitalism and liberty and opportunity, or is it personal responsibility...
The goal is maximizing profits.
Complete energy independence might not be the best course if profits are lowered.
Actually, it is the most frequently used communist tactic. It was used extensively by the commies against Whitaker Chambers after he exposed the penetration of communists into the federal government in the 30s. It was the main reason he wrote "Witness" -- to get the truth out before the communist smear machine could do its dastardly work. Alger Hiss worked hard to smear Chambers, but in the end Chambers' opus became the self-evident truth.
It is precisely what Alinsky directed all true radicals to do in his Rule #12:
Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.” Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions.
It is cruel, but very effective. Direct, personalized criticism and ridicule works. Look at the election of 2012 where an honorable gentleman ran against the communist machine.
Oddly enough, with a little national will, the US could slash our energy consumption to a huge degree, yet live better, less expensive, more comfortable lives for it.
The technology exists as flexible, thin sheet aerogel, a magnificent insulator. It insulates remarkably well against either heat or cold. Here is a tile of aerogel protecting a Hershey’s Kiss chocolate from a blowtorch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sw1tNeJ0Rw
Insulating home ovens, they would use just a fraction of the electricity they do now. And the same with refrigerators and freezers. Already there have been efforts to insulate homes with it, which can radically reduce heating and cooling costs.
The demand for thin sheet aerogel is enormous. NASA wants to line its satellites with it. Industrial demands for it are gigantic. Military demands for it are also very large.
Production, however, is lagging, and it shouldn’t be. As a major industrial priority, aerogel should be all over the place right now.
And the bottom line is that by using it, America would have such a tremendous energy surplus that we would be exporting vast amounts, our gasoline and jet fuel prices would be slashed, and home heating oil would decline as more and more people insulated their homes.
The priorities should be:
1) encouragement of natural gas as a power generation and house warming fuel to replace heating oil
2) development of coal to liquid fuels and transportation systems
3) algae based bio-fuels including bio-diesel and bio-butanol
4) nuclear power for grid power using safer nuke technologies such as thorium based reactors
5) segmentation of the grid into state boundaries
You can assist in finding the answer by defining what it is not.
It is not taking taxpayer money to fund idiocy like wind turbines, ethanol and the like.
It is not subsidizing political cronies’ schemes to get rich off the back of taxpayers.
With all the problems the country has, spending, employment, energy, terrorism, constitutional issues, mental health, healthcare, political corruption on both sides, immigration, I find it hard to believe LGBT issues seem to dominate the news and blogs, I’m so sick of it all.