TODAY’S WORRY
Do you ever feel that the whole energy crisis is kind of like the weather? Everybody complains about it but no one can do anything about it. It does feel sort of hopeless and that we will be beholden to foreign oil interests forever. But I don’t think this is necessarily true. Our government could and should come up with a coherent energy policy. The other day while I was waiting for the smog check on my car to be done, I read an editorial, “Our Energy Conundrum,†by Mortimer Zuckerman, in U.S. News and World Report. Among other things, he points out the fact that by spending $170 billion this year on foreign oil, “that we’re sending all these dollars to countries that use a good chunk of them to promote anti-American ideas, to spread radical Islam, and to finance the jihadists who are waging the war of terrorism against us. Some of these same countries are also using this largess to develop weapons of mass destruction. As if all that weren’t enough, we’re also spending hundreds of billions of dollars on a U.S. military presence to protect this Middle East energy source.â€
So, how about it, Mr. President and Congress, could you put your petty partisan politics aside and come up with a plan that not only increases production but also encourages conservation and new technology?