Fueling Freedom

Last night at the second presidential debate, even Hillary Clinton, the left-leaning Democrat, made a non-typical statement. She said we were virtually energy independent as a nation. Usually, Democrats don’t admit such things, wanting to win votes from environmentalists. It seems to me we don’t hear this truth discussed much these days. That’s why I recommend this book.

Did you know that we have more oil, natural gas, and coal than any other nation on earth, enough to take care of our energy needs for hundreds of years? Did you know that fracking technology and techniques are the only thing that produced any growth in jobs and the economy during all these Obama years? He is the “greenest,” most liberal president we’ve ever had, and he’s been blocking energy companies from progress at every turn, yet it was energy companies that made him look like he had “saved” us from the Bush years? It’s so ironic, isn’t it?

Obama (and Hillary) are opposed to coal mining, saying they’re going to put the coal industry out of business. Yet coal is what gives us most of our electricity, without which, we’d be back in the 19th century! 90% of our energy comes from oil, natural gas, and coal, and only about 4% from solar and wind, yet these people want us to convert to those sources, even though they can never meet our needs. Left-leaning Germany is trying to do this, and it’s really hurt their economy, but the Obama administration wants us to follow their “lead”!  As usual, the Left’s ideas just don’t work!

I was especially amazed as I pondered what the authors of this book said about some of the impact American energy can have upon the geo-political scene. Russia supplies most of the energy resources of Europe, and in recent times, Russia just hasn’t been a positive force in the world. Putin is a dictator. If America can supply Europe’s needs, their dependence upon this corrupt dictatorship will diminish, a good thing for all of us.

The same is true about the Middle East. These corrupt sponsors of terror world-wide have controlled the energy resources of the world and held us all hostage. The money that pours into their coffers from selling oil and natural gas ends up funding terrorists. If America were unshackled from the restrictions the Left has put on us regarding our natural resources, we could supply the world’s coal, oil and natural gas. OPEC would be greatly diminished in terms of their influence upon the world, again, a very good thing!

Now of course, there must always be a balance. Energy companies must be held accountable to not destroy the environment as they are drawing these resources out of the ground. But great progress has been made in that regard. In the past, there were horror stories. But today, American companies pollute less and have learned to be more careful with the environment. American coal is the cleanest burning, American oil-drilling is done with the greatest care.

There is a role for government to watch and police the way big corporations (and smaller ones) go about their work of extracting energy resources from the ground. But in recent years, the government has gone way too far in this regard, beyond common-sense. They are holding back our progress and their left-leaning policies are doing harm, not good.

This book  will open eyes and inform minds. As a Christian, I was delighted to find that God has given us amazing resources, enough to meet all our needs. It’s just frustrating that misguided government policies are keeping the benefits of those resources from us!