The politics of the energy crisis
Posted by Moonage on 05 Jul 2008 | Tagged as: Energy Policy, Political Correctness
The jam we’re in right now was put in place thirty years ago. In that time, we’ve gone from being an energy exporter to an energy junkie. It really doesn’t matter where we get our hit, so long as we don’t have to accept any responsibility for it. For instance:
- Oil - The Democrats absolutely refuse to allow drilling where our largest reserves are. The coast is off-limits, ANWR is off-limits, national parks is off-limits. On and on it goes. Oil is basically off the table as a short term solution.
- Coal - Harry Reid claims it makes us sick. Even Susan Estrich agrees with Harry on this one, claiming the Republicans are misguided in eveb considering clean coal as an option. Coal is off the table as a short term solution. It doesn’t matter tho, according to Nancy and Harry, much to Susan’s relief, coal is not an option.
- Since we’re not allowing ourselves to drill ourselves out of this mess, people like John Warner are proposing ways to save energy, like lowering the federal speed limit to 55. On the related poll at CNN, 62% of Americans oppose doing that.
- The only nuclear news this week is that the Palo Verde plant might be able stay open a little longer. All the other news is dominated by France, who is wanting to build the world’s largest reactor just so they can say they have the world’s largest reactor. They already have the most. France, to date, has not melted in radioactive waste. In fact, it’s an energy export industry now. Just like the US was thirty years ago. They’re not over-run in nuclear waste either, they re-package it using US technology.
- GM announced it’s having all kinds of problems selling it’s fleet of huge gas-guzzling road hogs. If you look at their web page on this year’s models, it’s dominated by huge gas-guzzling road hogs. Not one single hybrid or electric car is featured.
Bottom line, people just want this problem to go away without sacrificing anything. Folks, that just ain’t happening. People are just going to have to accept the fact that certain needless moral standards are going to have to give or we’re going to dig ourselves into an even deeper energy mess. OPEC knows we’re too proud to beg. They know people like Susan Estrich will be Republican until using unpopular energy options are considered. They know the average guy would rather pay out the butt to drive 70 mph rather than slowing down to ease demand. They know people like Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid won’t even consider drilling for oil in a forest no man ever sees because they have staked their claim that Republicans sold out to big oil. They know most of the US fears things they don’t understand and won’t take the time to do the research to understand nuclear. They know all this. We blast it all over CNN and Foxnews for all the world to see. Hollywood makes movies every year telling the world we’ll have to live in a spaceship for 700 years because we’re trashing the Earth or something of the sort. Even if we try to bluff OPEC by saying we’re drilling for new oil in North Dakota, Nancy and Harry come back as quick as they can to tell the world that they think all fossil fuels are bad and they won’t allow anything more than what we’re doing now. Their solution is the path we’re on now. Make gas and coal so expensive the average guy will go out and buy all the other options.
The only problem is, Nancy and Harry, right now, there are no other options and the economy’s tanking because of that. And, if the economy continues to tank, we won’t have the resources necessary to develop those other options any time soon. And, if that happens, people like us will start building houses with fireplaces and burn trash to subsidize our heating bills. And, when that happens, which I’m sure it already is to some degree, Nancy can kiss her global warming initiatives good-bye. And when oil does run out completely, unless the Nancy’s and Harry’s are actually developing new energy sources instead of bizarre pie-in-the-sky assumptions like “preferring solar”, global warming will no longer even be an issue because people will be burning whatever they can get their hands on to stay warm and riding on horses that fart every quarter mile.
And, as long as people across the US give the Nancy’s and Harry’s a pass for doing nothing but aggravating the situation, we’re heading down that road a lot faster than people think.
2 Comments »
on 05 Jul 2008 at 12:57 pm 1.David V. said …
strange..the republicans, so entrenched in big oil, are putting effort into endeavors that would reduce the cost of fuel. Even if only in theory as the democrats imply. The democrats are putting effort into endeavors that would drive the cost up as well as place the U.S.A. in poor condition militarily, financially and with regards to respect around the world. Don’t think we’re too proud to beg either, bush already asked the saudis to increase output. But that’s not the real news, American idol etc is.
on 05 Jul 2008 at 1:51 pm 2.Moon said …
I think your dead-on in your assessment. The problem the Republicans have is they are perceived to be beholden to big oil moreso than they truly are. The true difference between being a Republican and being a Democrat, whether people respect that any more or not, is the level of government involvement. Any time the Republicans are in charge, you see a more business friendly climate. When Democrats are in charge, you see a more government friendly climate, ie social programs and such. So, just due to the very nature of that deeply ingrained philosophical difference, it is always very easy to make the argument the Republicans are beholden to big oil. Facts don’t support that argument of late tho. Sure, oil gives more to Republicans, but coal gives a much more disproportional amount. Where it gets ugly, but people aren’t looking, is how beholden the Democrats are to alternative energy sources. You can verify those statements here:
http://opensecrets.org/industries/indus.php?ind=E1500&goButt2.x=4&goButt2.y=4
Now, that’s all fine and good, but we need some type of oil, gas, and coal policy right now. The stronger our economy is, the better suited it is to adjust to those alternatives. Now, is the chicken laying the egg here or vice versa? Are the Democrats that convinced that the only solution is technology that does not exist, and being rewarded for that policy? Or, is that policy being dictated by the fact that alternatives are the only energy segment they have a strangle-hold on?
Either way, the reality is alternative ARE the future, but we have to survive right now until that future is ready and the Democrat leadership is completely failing in that aspect and needs to be much more publicly flogged because of that. Sure, solar’s a wonderful concept, but when I built my house it wouldn’t even run a light bulb for one day. We’re a LONG way from solar being any type of realistic option for the common man. Wind doesn’t work in wooded areas, I had to skip that option entirely. I wound up with electric based geo-thermal. And all geo-thermal does is soften the electricity usage. That electricity still has to come from somewhere. We’re sitting on an almost unlimited amount of coal right here and this town runs primarily off of semi-clean coal now. I’d prefer nuclear so we wouldn’t have to devestate our mountains, but that’s not an option for purely political reasons. And, that’s not because Republicans are sold out to big oil. It’s because Jimmy Carter all but banned nuclear in lieu of coal, and Democrats have filibustered, delayed, voted down, and killed anything that has anything to do with nuclear for thirty years. Only in the last four years have we had any nuclear initiative at all, and Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are trying to kill even that now.