George Landrith (4th cousin) of Frontiers of Freedom has a new opinion piece on National Security, the Economy, and the Environment:
America imports almost 60 percent of its oil – mostly from the Middle East. America is prosecuting a war against terrorism which has deep roots in the Middle East. It is rather obvious that America will be more secure if it can produce more of its own oil. If we allow our enemies to hold us hostage with oil, we do so at our own peril. Yet, in 2002, liberals in the U.S. Senate led the charge to prevent oil exploration in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). They ensured that America grows ever more dependent upon folks like Saddam Hussein for oil.
Energy the fuel of our economy. For our economy to regain its strength and maintain stable growth, we must have affordable, plentiful and stable energy. Policy which makes energy more expensive, less stable, or more scarce, will stunt the economy, kill jobs, and hit our pocketbooks. Yet, Senate liberals pushed policies designed to make energy more scare and expensive – mandates for windmills that don't work, less domestic oil production, and more "voluntary" government regulation of CO2, a harmless gas that humans breath out and plants require to sustain life.
The more domestic oil we use, the less susceptible we are as a nation to the instability of the Middle East and more specifically, the lies of Saudi leadership. Quite simply, the sooner we start producing more of our own oil, and in return buying less Middle Eastern oil, the sooner these theocratic despots become irrelevant. Of course, that would hurt the economies of these countries immensely as they may not be able to make up for the loss in U.S. sales quickly enough, but I'm sure they could find solace in the fact that they were no longer doing business with The Great Satan. Of course, then we'd have terrorists attacking us for ruining their economies. But in the end, they could no longer dangle the oil carrot in front of our noses.
Of course, this is all just a big ole pipe dream and nothing this complex could possibly have a solution as simple as this one. It doesn't hurt to dream.