We must begin to recognize that hydrocarbon energy is essential to life as we now know it

We must begin to recognize that hydrocarbon energy is essential to life as we now know it

How Effective is an “Oil Free Zone”?

oil free zone
Unless you have been living under a very large rock in the middle of the Mojave Desert, with no WiFi and the battery in your lap top died about four years ago, you ought to have at least a passing knowledge of the concept of a “Gun Free Zone.”

After the Newtown, CT tragedy, many trendy, Progressive locales declared themselves to be “gun free” zones.  Apparently the inhabitants of these enclaves worked out that declaring themselves to be “gun free” would result in the elimination of the use of any and all firearms. This echo chamber for members of the Progressive intelligentsia was convinced that such a declaration would intimidate those criminals and psychopaths that might do all sorts of naughty things within their “zone.”

It was the consensus among these intellectual defectives that once these potential criminals and psychopaths realized that the residents of these areas were obviously Progressive thought-leaders and had declared guns to be unfashionable, they would leave their firearms home and simply interact with them in a much more friendly way.

Apparently this idea has caught on with the Progressive thought-leaders in the radical environmental movement who would like to see something similar evolve in terms of declaring the entire western world declared an “Oil Free Zone”, or for those really, really out of touch with reality, an alternative “Hydrocarbon Free Zone”.  To be fair to the really radical folks, their idea is a lot more truthful, but they have to admit that it is somewhat harder to paint on a protest sign, since the word “hydrocarbon” is a lot harder to spell, and might cause the masses of the unwashed, who regularly watch Fox News to mock them as idiots.

In their weltanschauung, simply declaring that oil, natural gas and coal are “bad” and investing in solar and wind power while replacing cars with bicycles are “good”, should be all it takes.  After all, they, too, have a consensus of world opinion behind them. They simply require that the rest of us accept their definition of the term “world.”  And then they can all sing Kumbaya.

The problem they, and coincidentally the Obama Administration and the foreign policy establishment, have is that the leaders of non-Western powers such as Russia, India, China and the Middle East have reacted exactly the same way that the criminals and psychopaths that worry the folk in “Gun Free Zones” have.

What is that reaction? Well, after their laughter dies down, they continue to believe that their weapon of choice, in this case hydrocarbon-based energy, will allow them to force people in these “Oil Free Zones” to do exactly nothing to stop them from taking over the whole world.

The energy oligarchs in these nations no longer need to threaten others with nuclear weapons, or massive troop movements.  If these “Oil Free Zones” are in place, all Vladimir Putin has to do is cut off the energy to Europe and the Baltic countries and watch as thousands, or tens of thousands of people slowly freeze to death during the next winter.  Realistically, how long will it take the European nations to cave in to his demands for hegemony at the very least?  A few weeks, perhaps six at most?  When the cost of filling your car to drive from Zurich to southern Italy for your governmentally protected four-week vacation each year means a second mortgage on your home, will “Oil Free Zones” still be attractive?

For over fifty years the policy of MAD, mutually assured destruction, maintained an uneasy, but comparatively stable geopolitical status around the world.  In essence it was “If you toss a nuke at us, we’ll respond in kind”.  Replace the use of nukes with control over the energy needed to heat your home and insure that your kids or parents won’t be found frozen to death and what equivalent retaliation is available to protect us?  Today, the answer to that question is, None.

And the Obama administrations endless attempts to frustrate hydrocarbon energy development in this country have effectively disarmed the entire western world.  We cannot offer Europe or Japan or any other nation enough energy to replace that which Russia, China or radical Islamic nations and their allies such as Venezuela might cut off.  We cannot even be energy independent and care for merely our own energy needs, no matter how often the Teleprompter-of-the-United-States says we can with wind and solar energy and making sure that our tires are properly inflated.

Ain’t gonna happen, Scooter!

We must begin to recognize that hydrocarbon energy is essential to life as we now know it.  It not only heats our homes, it runs our factories, it powers our transportation, and it offers a counterbalance to the threat of cutting off power that is being voiced by Putin and others, and they are not even being especially subtle about it.

The first steps in restoring our defensive capabilities has to begin in November, and it cannot be limited to restoring our fleet of warships, augmenting our combat aircraft capabilities and revitalize our human capital in the military.  Our defensive capabilities have to include the expansion and development of our energy sector, not just for our comfort, but for the security of both America and its allies around the world.

An “Oil Free Zone” is just as effective (and just as nonsensical) as the currently fashionable “Gun Free Zones”.  Neither will provide security from criminals or psychopaths, and both will result in harm, or even death, to the very people they were intended to protect.