Has the level of public discourse ever been lower? The Biden administration’s energy policies have been a disaster, as an overwhelming majority of Americans recognize. So the Democrats are flailing wildly, trying to blame exploding energy costs on Vladimir Putin, while suggesting that their own failed policies demonstrate the need to stop pumping oil altogether and shift to wind and solar power, fueling electric vehicles.
This view was expressed by Senator Chris Murphy, who offered the following twisted logic:
Murphy said, “I think there’s a moral imperative for the United States to not send money to fund Putin’s war. But we are a very small share of Russia’s exports.”
That’s right, and the only reason we are importing Russian oil at all is that we irrationally cut down on our own production.
Murphy said, “The reality is if we’re not getting this from Russia, we’re likely going to be importing more from another brutal dictator, in Saudi Arabia, for instance, or we may have to go to Venezuela.
Actually, we should be getting it from Texas, New Mexico, North Dakota, etc. That is what would happen if the Democrats would get out of the way. This is the kicker:
“We should learn our lesson here and become energy independent and choose to invest in clean domestic energy, so we never have to choose between one dictator versus another.”
***
Murphy concluded, “Renewable energy stays in the United States. When we are producing energy from solar panels or wind turbines — that stays on the American grid, if you really care about keeping American energy in the United States, you should be investing in renewables.”
This is literally one of the dumbest things I have ever read. “Clean domestic energy” means wind and solar. Will wind and solar energy make us “energy independent,” like fossil fuels did until Joe Biden took office? No.
Where does Murphy think we get our solar panels? China controls over 70% of the world market, and that isn’t going to change–it’s hard to compete on price with slave labor. How about wind turbines? Seven of the ten largest wind turbine manufacturers are Chinese, and China controls 60% of global wind turbine production.
Perhaps the dimwitted senator might suggest that we carry out a Manhattan project-style effort to promote solar panel and wind turbine manufacture here in the U.S. Only it isn’t that simple. Apart from being inherently unreliable and unreasonably expensive, both solar panels and wind turbines require extraordinary amounts of copper, nickel, cobalt, rare earths, lithium (for the mythical “batteries” that greenies are always talking about) and other minerals. Where do you suppose those minerals are mined and processed? In the U.S.? No:
The reality is that relying on wind turbines, solar panels and batteries means turning our entire energy sector–our whole economy, really–over to the Communist Chinese Party. It is the exact opposite of energy independence. And that isn’t going to change, since Senator Murphy and other members of his party wouldn’t dream of allowing the U.S. to mine its own copper, nickel, and cobalt, not to mention the other minerals where we lack adequate deposits.
It isn’t unusual to see bad arguments made in the political arena, especially when parties are desperate as the Democrats are today. But what they are now saying about energy policy represents an intellectual nadir.
Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.