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Why
isn't foreign oil dependency more important?
Tuesday,
February 6, 2007
America
hasn't learned anything from the 70's gas lines, the
Iranian hostage crisis or even 9/11
Recently, President Bush suggested the idea of reducing
gasoline dependence by 20 percent in the next decade.
America's Big 3 automakers responded that ending foreign
oil dependency just isn't profitable.
On the other hand, Honda welcomed the idea, and Toyota was
far less opposed than American automakers. So, which
automakers are better for America?
Yet, foreign oil dependency has already cost Americans
more than a trillion dollars, and it is certain to cause
even far more money and problems in the next few decades
if we can't even reduce dependence by 20 percent.
Ironically, however, such a sum could easily fund the
technology to end foreign oil dependency using today's
technology such as hybrid
cars, clean diesels, lightweight composite materials
and bio-fuels.
So why don't Americans take foreign oil dependency more
seriously?
Even the majority of the buyers of hybrid vehicles buy
hybrids because of global warming, rather than foreign oil
dependency. Why? Obviously, global warming is a huge
issue, but it is still a rather contentious issue, rather
than an issue that brings Americans together to fight a
common cause.
On the contrary, it's hard to argue that ending foreign
oil dependency isn't good for America.
First, we could save money doing it. Second, if automakers
were provided with incentives to achieve fuel economy
mandates, they would be developing automobiles using the
most advanced technology available. Just as with the moon
landing, pushing the technological envelope always leads
to amazing and unexpected discoveries. Discoveries America
could sell to the rest of the world. Third, ending foreign
oil dependency would have a huge impact on global warming.
Quite simply, there is no excuse for America not to end
foreign oil dependency other than ignorance, complacency
and greed. However, since most of the rest of the world
describes most Americans with those same three words, the
chances of ending foreign oil dependency appear very slim.
And, since both political parties blame the other for a
problem to which both parties have contributed, this issue
might never be solved by politicians. For today's
politicians, partisanship and re-election politicking has
become more important than productive policy.
That leaves We The People. Can We The People set aside our
differences and force this change?
Related
Story --> Foreign
oil dependency and Iraq: A lethal combination?
posted
by Dahcredyns at
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