Ny op-ed från ARI av Alex Epstein:

Politicians and commentators from both parties are decrying our ”addiction to oil.” They exhort us to embrace costly programs to reduce our consumption of oil as quickly as possible. The primary rationale for this is national security. Our oil consumption is dangerous because, in the words of a New York Times editorial, ”Oil profits that flow to Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries finance . . . terrorist acts.” With the same justification, President Bush has called for cutting ”more than 75 percent of our oil imports from the Middle East by 2025 . . . and mak[ing] our dependence on Middle Eastern oil a thing of the past.”

But Americans are not ”addicted” to oil. ”Addiction” implies an intense desire for something harmful. But we do not desire oil irrationally; we consume it because it is a wonderful, life-sustaining product. Oil is unmatched as an efficient, safe source of portable energy. It enables us to affordably ride, drive, or fly anywhere we wish, and fuels a transportation industry that enables us to trade anything with anyone from anywhere around the world. We are not addicted to oil any more than we are addicted to the myriad values it makes possible, like fresh food, imported electronics, going to work, or visiting loved ones.

The problem we face today is not our love of oil, but oil-rich dictatorships like Iran and Saudi Arabia–who use ill-gotten profits to spread totalitarian Islamic ideology around the world and terrorize us with their minions. The solution is not to punish ourselves by renouncing oil–but to punish our enemies until they renounce their aggression.

As the most powerful nation on earth, the United States has many options at its disposal.

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