On March 21st, 2009, President Obama said America
must reduce our dependence on dangerous foreign oil and finally put this nation on a path to a clean, renewable energy future.
What makes foreign oil "dangerous?" Does it cause a sludge buildup in the carburetor, unlike safe domestic oil? No, it's dangerous (I assume) because it brings prosperity to governments which are "pro-terrorist." Like Saudi Arabia, recipient of billions of dollars in weapons of mass destruction from the U.S. federal government.
Should America reduce "our" dependence on "dangerous" foreign oil? No.
Should America reduce "our" dependence on dangerous foreign bananas, or dangerous foreign coffee?
Getting what we need from the cheapest source is good for our economy. "Dependence" is good. Self-sufficiency is not. "Victory Gardens" are not a sign of prosperity.
The White House - Blog Post - Spring Gardening
According to the U.S. Dept. of Energy,
The top sources of US crude oil imports for December were Canada (2.033 million barrels per day), Saudi Arabia (1.394 million barrels per day), Mexico (1.126 million barrels per day), Venezuela (1.028 million barrels per day), and Nigeria (0.869 million barrels per day). The rest of the top ten sources, in order, were Angola (0.553 million barrels per day), Iraq (0.519 million barrels per day), Ecuador (0.252 million barrels per day), Algeria (0.235 million barrels per day), and Brazil (0.208 million barrels per day).
What's so "dangerous" about getting oil from Canada? From Mexico, Ecuador, or Brazil? Venezuela is ruled by a clinically insane socialist dictator, but how is buying oil from Venezuela "dangerous?" Suppose Obama followed Thomas Jefferson's model and sent Christian missionaries to Venezuela so that the people of that nation would throw off their socialist dictator? Isn't that a better solution than crippling our economy by buying more expensive oil from another "safer" country? Or not being allowed to buy oil at all?
More dangerous than oil from Canada and Brazil are the ideas about "renewable" energy from environmentalists.
Rather than "investing" in primitive technology like wind and solar energy, a policy which will cause poverty and death to millions of human beings, let's stop investing in foreign dictatorships like Saudi Arabia, so that buying their oil is not "dangerous." Then let the Free Market create clean energy from nuclear and magnetic sources.