Energy and Begging the Topic

A maddening aspect of American politics is the constant substitution of nonsense for debate or discussion. Partisanship is partly responsible; no one with an investment in their public position is going to have their opinions change--at least in public. There is another problem as well: Begging the question. Begging the question is a perfectly good phrase tattered by abuse. It does not mean "raising a point for discussion", it means "assuming what is to be proved," or "circular reasoning".

An example: "Affirmative Action can never be fair or just; you cannot remedy one injustice by committing another."

While a staple of American political discussion, its use in the energy debate has taken on mystical overtones. It is so large as to engulf the entire topic, so large a new phrase may be necessary to describe it. It assumes everything.

Here is a summary of Obama's points in his energy address this week:
-Reducing oil imports by one third within a decade.
-Discovering and producing cleaner, renewable sources of energy.
-Making vehicles more efficient.
-Increasing domestic oil production.
-More nuclear energy - keeping in safety in mind.

This is not a plan, it is a wish list. While Obama can make these goals difficult, like increasing oil or nuclear production, he cannot actually do any of these things himself. Essentially this "plan" assumes a lot of other people are going to solve your question.

1. Reducing oil imports of course depends on the success of the other points. 2. There are sources of energy (solar, wind). The problem is the battery. 3. Vehicle efficiency might be improved by stop-start technology but there is little else yet.4. Increasing production will be hard with two decades of suppressed production, the Gulf ban and the EPA. 5. Nuclear energy is a good source but a reactor has not been built in 23 years. That is purposeful.

Two nations, Japan and Israel, have no domestic energy sources and are totally dependant upon imports, some from sworn enemies. These two highly successful, technical cultures have been trying to make themselves energy independent for generations and have failed so far. That Obama can stand up and present these assumptions as a plan is simply fanciful; that anyone could take him seriously is stupid.