NYT columnist Thomas L. Friedman pulls his hair out over why Dubya picked social security reform as a hill to die on when energy conservation is a much bigger issue.
Some excerpts:
Look at the opportunities our country is missing - and the risks we are assuming - by having a president and vice president who refuse to lift a finger to put together a "geo-green" strategy that would marry geopolitics, energy policy and environmentalism.
By doing nothing to lower U.S. oil consumption, we are financing both sides in the war on terrorism and strengthening the worst governments in the world. That is, we are financing the U.S. military with our tax dollars and we are financing the jihadists - and the Saudi, Sudanese and Iranian mosques and charities that support them - through our gasoline purchases. The oil boom is also entrenching the autocrats in Russia and Venezuela, which is becoming Castro's Cuba with oil. By doing nothing to reduce U.S. oil consumption we are also setting up a global competition with China for energy resources, including right on our doorstep in Canada and Venezuela. Don't kid yourself: China's foreign policy today is very simple - holding on to Taiwan and looking for oil.
Friedman's policy suggestions are simple:
- Keep the price of gas in the U.S. at $4 US per gallon
- Start building nuclear power plants again
- Impose a carbon tax (and watch Ralph Klein's head explode!)