The President’s Address

Watching the President’s address to the nation today made me feel like a time traveler because I flashed back to Jimmy Carter. It was weird except for the mention of the war the rest reminded me of more than one speech by then President Carter in the late 70’s.

First was the mention of the bad economy then the environment of coarse Carter did not have to deal with anything like the Gulf oil spill. The last part could have been the speech announcing the formation of the Department of Energy.

Since the oil embargo of the early 70’s the US government has known we needed to do something about our dependence on foreign oil. The problem is no one in the government wanted to do anything real about it.

Carter created the Department of Energy to manage US energy policy and since its birth it has done nothing. Oh it has spent billions on energy research ranging from fusion to clean coal but it has not changed one thing in the US except let the amount of imported oil increase over the years.

In the realm of energy Carter did mandate the first car gas mileage standards, had all government agencies set an example for conservation by setting heating thermostats to 68 degrees which was fun in the winters of 78 through 80. Carter also helped kill the nuclear power industry here in the US, which really put us on the road to energy independence.

The Department of Energy helped kill the idea of orbital solar power stations and instead we had a tax subsidy for solar water heaters for homes. In the whole the DOE has been a colossal waste of US tax dollars from day one. Both political parties for the last 30 plus years has had no interest in doing anything to make America energy independent it was to easy and profitable to stay with the status quo.

Now President Obama is going to use the Gulf oil spill to help push through the democrats energy policies which are carbon taxes and wind, solar and some nuclear power. Now it all sounds good if you do not think about it to hard. Discounting global warming for a second here the major problem has been the same, our use of oil.

To reduce our oil consumption we need to reduce or eliminate gasoline powered automobiles and stop people in the Northeast from using heating oil in the winter. Building solar, wind and nuclear power stations are going to do this how, most of the electricity in the US is produced by coal, nuclear and natural gas.

The Federal government spent what 100 billion saving GM and Chrysler last year and they build gasoline cars. The technology for electric cars is not ready for primetime and even if it was it would take years to convert the fleet of cars driven by the American people. We won’t even talk about other fuel sources because again it would take 30 to 50 years to build out the infrastructure to switch to hydrogen or E85.

Now I do happen to believe we need to do this but not in the way the left wants us to. The bills currently in the house and senate are a greens wet dream that will cripple US industrial production and sink the shaky economy. I also have my doubts that the DOE can do anything this ambitious. The Department’s track record is dismal and other than regulating industries the left does not like I do not see a plan to change the American people’s cars from gasoline or switching homes now heated by oil to natural gas or electricity.

There is one more interesting fact that almost never gets mentioned in the media or in Washington. The number one user of oil is (wait for it) the Department of Defense. That’s right my follow citizens the biggest user of oil is the government itself.