Wearing a sweater 30 years later?

Is this 1977? 1978? Maybe it's 1979?

President Bush has dispatched the energy secretary to tell the country to drive slower, turn down the thermostat, and conserve energy. Sounds nice, but just as it did nearly 30 years ago, this policy sucks.

Look, this shouldn't come as a shock, but it probably will to some of you anyway: Americans are not going to conserve their way out of this energy pinch. The answer is clear and lies in something that enviroweenies and green wackos don't want to hear: technology.

We must remove all impediments to research into new energy sources (be it oil, coal, hydrogen, Crisco, unused Harry Belafonte CD's (there should be plenty of those), etc.). We must ignore the treehuggers and actually use the resources we already know that we have. That means telling Floridians to (a) shut up and pay sickeningly high gas prices, or (b) allow us to tap into the vast recourses of natural gas off the Florida western Gulf coast. Alaskans want us to drill in ANWR, which was set aside for the specific purpose of oil exploration...yet non-Alaskans are telling those snowbound dimwits that they're too stupid to see how their own backyard would be defiled by such capitalistic activity!

The conservation message is a huge political mistake. How well did it work for Jimmy Carter? (Sidebar: how well did anything work for Carter?) People will going to turn down the thermostat only if they think they will save money, and not out of some altruistic "responsibility" to conserve.

High energy prices can be easily solved with increased supply and technology. Americans consume, not conserve, and no amount of browbeating from the Sierra Club, Congress, the President, or Hollywood elitists will ever change that. I'm sorry if that offends you, and you're free to reject that reality if you like. Some numbnuts government campaign that nags you by telling you you're an "energy hog" is going to change Americans' consumption patterns.

Americans are paying for the enviro-lobby's past legislative (and judicial) victories. So, don't you worry about that cute little Arctic iceberg possum or the rare Pensacola snail darter mini-fish...we'd rather stay dependent on foreign oil than reducing our dependency even a tad!

I just pray that President Bush doesn't address the nation wearing a sweater and telling us to do the same!