Beware of politicians who talk about America becoming energy self-sufficient, and telling the Saudis to sit on their derricks and spin. Absent a serious and comprehensive plan for conservation, one that would actually require the people to make real sacrifices, it's nothing but cant.
Patrick Deneen confronted Barack Obama about this when the senator showed up at Georgetown a year ago. Patrick tells the story here:
Last fall, Barack Obama visited the Georgetown campus to deliver a lecture on energy policy. This was before he had officially declared, but he was giving all the signs of preparing to throw his hat in the ring. I used my faculty position to get a good seat in the largest lecture hall on the campus. Obama gave a stirring speech that began with a rousing critique of the President's failure to call for sacrifice from the American people in the wake of the attacks of 9/11, and for the feebleness of his call for Americans to go shopping. Then he proceeded to offer a set of talking points, such as that auto makers should be called upon to meet higher CAFE standards and that the Federal government should extend its subsidies of ethanol production.Since I was quite close to the microphone, I got up and was about fifth in line to ask a question. A few nice questions were asked, and then my turn came. I said:
"Senator Obama, you began your speech today with a stirring call for sacrifice from the American public as we fight this international war on terror. I think it's a call that a new generation, like the old, is ready to hear. But then, when you tell us what is to be done, you didn't actually ask for us to sacrifice a thing; you didn't ask us to change our behavior one bit. You tell us that we can drive as much as we want in cars that burn food. You don't mention that ethanol is a net energy loser once you account for all the petroleum inputs and that it's requires a form of farming that's destroying the nation's topsoil. You say you want to distinguish yourself from President Bush in calling for sacrifice, but you are effectively saying the same thing he did. If you really want to call for sacrifice from the American public, why don't you ask us - I know I stand ready, and I'll bet there are a lot of people in this Hall who would agree."
The hall erupted in cheers, Patrick says. Maybe there really are Americans who want to be challenged to make real sacrifices for the common good. Maybe our politicians are underestimating us.
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MI, I found the article Bugg linked to be quite appropriate to the sub-topic of unintended consequences, and a direct commentary on my post about FDR.
As someone who, in a perfect world (and this is anything but) would tell the Saudis to take their derricks and shove them, it nevertheless occurs to me that as long as we consider it in our national interest to engage with Saudi Arabia rather than shun them, we are going to be buying huge quantities of crude from them for as far as the eye can see. (No matter the impact on climate change/pollution/the price per barrel going above $100, etc. ...)
Obviously, Saudi Arabia has some of the world's largest oil reserves at a time when, due to Middle East instability (whoever you finger as the main agitator) and insatiable demand, we are heading toward that "peak oil" point. Even so, it cannot be denied there is also a political dimension to the issue, at least with the KSA.
Barack Obama may not have come up with the best answer to Prof. Deneen at Georgetown. But I find it very hard to believe (and therefore a little unfair to single him out) that he is the only presidential candidate in either party caught on the horns of this particular dilemma.
MI, I found the article Bugg linked to be quite appropriate to the sub-topic of unintended consequences, and a direct commentary on my post about FDR
Franklin Evans - Check; I missed your mention of FDR above. When I saw "price controls" in Bugg's 1:55 comment, I (incorrectly) concluded he was responding to me as well.
Larry,
Deneen says in his post that he thinks all the candidates running are like that. He was just disappointed because he hoped for more, when Obama criticized Bush's failure to challenge us and ask for sacrifice. It's a feeling I echo - Obama's policies fail to match up to his rhetoric.
Empiricus, you are right.
Security is an illusion.
The implications of THAT really explain everything. Though they don't offer terribly many solutions. . . Just a reason to see the world lucidly as it is, for a moment, and to throw back your head and laugh long and hard. For all the apparatuses of State and Capital and indeed all of our Western Philosophy are nothing in the face of that one glaring fact, and therefore you cannot take any of it too seriously.
If you are not a believer, you can take this metaphorically, but there is wisdom to it either way:
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. Store up for yourselves rather treasures in heaven. For where your heart is, there will your treasure be also."
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