That's easy, MurryMom, both major political factions of the Republicrat Party have been derelict in their duty to develop a responsible and comprehensive America First! Energy Policy for the last 30 years.
Friends, neither Beltway party is going to drain this swamp, because to them it is not a swamp at all, but a protected wetland and their natural habitat. They swim in it, feed in it, spawn in it.-- Patrick J. Buchanan, "A Plague on Both Your Houses"
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Reflecting their totalitarian, command-economy, communist roots, the environuts have systematicly placed development of our own domestic energy resources off limits. Transnational corporate globalists like Dubya merely ignore their buffoonery and move offshore, leaving our nation hostage to the whacknut demands and evermore dependent on imports.
To maintain our liberty and independence, there are a variety of policies that we should be pursuing. First and foremost would be a flat revenue tariff of 10~15% on ALL imported goods, including oil. That would significantly motivate development of ALL domestic sources of energy production.
On the consumption side, we could also significantly reduce our petroleum consumption, NOT by defying the laws of physics and imposing extremist "efficiency" levels on which there are diminishing returns of investment, but by employing technology that is currently available. Construction of modern, efficient, electriclly powered mass-transportation systems (light rail, high-speed rail and Maglev) in our nation's most densely populated regions and urban areas would provide an efficient and competitive transportation alternative that utilizes an energy source other than petroleum. And the vast quanitites of electricity necessary to offset the petroleum consumption could easily be provided by nuclear power.
Your response is consistent with good economics, except the part about increasing tariffs 10-15% on all goods. I would prefer raising taxes only on motor fuels by about 15-20%, with an offsetting reduction in income taxes so that the fuel tax hike would be revenue neutral. Limiting the tax increase to petroleum products will encourage conservation and have a disproportionate effect on trading partners like Iraq, from whom we currently import 1 million barrels per day mostly as a result of production cutbacks in Venezuela.
Increasing tariffs on all goods on an across-the-board basis would be self-defeating in many ways, including the likelihood of retaliation by our trading partners; harming U.S. export industries; and inflating the prices of imported goods here in the U.S.