Reducing Reliance on Foreign Oil

The East Coast office of Halliburton (i.e. The White House) would have you believe that the only way to reduce our reliance on foreign oil is to disturb pristine wilderness in Alaska. Poppycock. The only real way to reduce such reliance in both the short and long-term is to use less. This is no great mystery. If we drove what Europeans drove we could probably reduce our consumption by half. Not exactly what Big Oil has in mind.

Carter was the last President to ask for meaningful sacrifice in this regard. Under Carter, energy consumption actually dropped. It hasn't dropped since. Few politicians have the guts to take on Detroit and big oil, and that is what is needed. In fact, we now provide a tax break for gas guzzling SUVs.

Gore was assailed by Repugs in 2000 for what they called the Gore/Clinton gas tax increase of 1993. It was 4.3 cents. Of course, there was no mention of the 5 cent gas tax increases under both Reagan and Bush I. Most people don't remember that the crazy little man with the big ears from Texarkana wanted to raise the gas tax 50 cents to reduce the deficit. One of his best ideas, from an energy policy standpoint, although not necessary for Clinton to eliminate the deficit.

Earlier this month, RushLimbaughotomy had a post on the Smart Car. While the standard Smart Car would likely be hard pressed to succeed in the current American market, the new Roadsters just might. Close in size to the popular Mini Cooper, these little cars are snazzy. And as my Dutch brochure states: Het zijn niet alleen de vormen en de typerende proporties die van een auto een roadster maken maar ook een duidelijk gedefinieerde en no-nonsense uitrusting. Yeah, Baby! I couldn't agree more.