I've long felt that energy independence should be one of our highest national priorities. Our biggest weakness right now, aside from our current leadership issues, is our ridiculous dependence on hostile foreign governments.* How much money do we send each year to countries like Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Venezuela for energy? Screw that.
The problem, at least as I see it, is that energy independence requires both sides of the political aisle to agree to do some things that neither will do. It will, at least in the short term, require more drilling here at home. The Democrats are never going to go for that. It will also require a substantial investment into renewable energy technologies. The Republicans are never going to go for that. And nuclear power is probably going to have to be a part of any long-term solution as well. Nobody's going to go for that.
So we will continue to pay other countries to solve our energy problems, because we don't have the will to do it ourselves. Make no mistake, we have the resources. We just won't use them.
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* Our unpayable debt to China is, of course, an even bigger problem, but that's a discussion for another day.