All Things in Moderation

Drill, Baby, Drill quickly caught on as a phrase in the Republican Party during the 2009 elections. It underlines a fundamental difference in opinions, the Republican Party wants to drill here and drill now, while the democratic party is more inclined to push regulations and clean energy immediately. Both sides are both rather dramatic in scale. But there is a middle ground. Even if we want to move to clean energy, as Fred Barnes said "In the meantime, America needs oil, and the good news is we're awash in the stuff."

Our country lives off of oil, and as with any addiction, the United States cannot be cured overnight. In the article "Lets Wean America off Fossil Fuels in 15 Years." the author discusses a report that calls for "utilizing current technology and infrastructure." We cannot abandon our current infrastructure immediately simply because we are in a rush, we must 'wean' America off of its addiction.

By opening up drilling here and now, we first allow for reduced gas prices, jump-starting our economy and allowing more money to be spent on research. As the economy rolls along, we can slowly phase in both short term and long term structures for energy independence.

Again this can be thought of as a unique illness. We cannot simply focus on solving the cause without fighting the symptoms as well, yet we cannot devote all our attention to fighting the symptoms. We must work steadily but surely on both. To much of anything is a not always a good thing, neither to much oil dependence, nor to much of a push for green energy. We must strike a balance with the present and future in order to evolve into a truly energy independent nation.


Barnes, Fred. "Let's Drill." The Weekly Standard. The Weekly Standard LLC. 26 May 2008. Web.

"How to Wean America Off Fossil Fuels in 15 Years" EV World. n.p. 20 March 2004. Web.