WaPo Does Something Right

A nice, brief article explaining why the notion of "energy independence" is such a canard. These are mostly economic arguments, but there's a healthy dose of pragmatism as well.

I wish that the GOP presidential would pick up on this, and stop citing "energy independence" as a major goal. Even if it were possible, these claims ring hollow because of the nature of the Republican party, its historical ties to oil-exporting nations (e.g. the Bush family's relationship with the Saudi royals), the meddling of the U.S. into affairs of oil-exporting nations in the last three GOP presidents (Reagan in Iran/Lebanon, H.W. Bush in Iraq/Kuwait, W. Bush in Iraq/etc.).

But it won't happen, because "energy independence" has become a useful tool for Republican politicians to instill fear into their constituents. That theme is practically a constant now, as most major GOP politicians fear-monger over immigration, the inability of many voters to differentiate between Muslims (e.g. Sunni/Shiite, Islamists/modernists, democrats/dictators, etc.), gays, etc.

The history of this stuff in the GOP has a long and deep history (especially since the end of WWII) from McCarthyism to AIDS scares to the "bomb all the brown people back into the Stone Age" attitude of many GOP constituents after 9/11.

The fact is that we are deeply and irrevocably tied to the rest of the world, and the sooner we acknowledge that fact and try to make the most of it, the better we'll be. I don't know if the GOP is capable of leading the country in this area anymore.

Well, maybe McCain can. Maybe.