Some of the most annoying politicking of the current era revolves around "energy independence." Everyone assures us that he or she will break "American dependence on foreign oil." Everyone seems to think this is a good idea and why not? It ties into two strong urges: environmentalism and protectionism. The problem is that energy independence is a totally different goal that, say, producing energy in an environmentally safe way. And as for the protectionist urge to be independent from other nations, well, this strikes me as naive at best.
I read an interesting, if over-stated, editorial about this today. Check it out.
