Republicans have made hay for decades by portraying Democrats as spend-thrift, reckless liberals. Their side is supposedly "conservative" -- sober-minded, prudent, level-headed -- while their opponents are "radical" -- dangerous, risky, foolish.

But what is the truly "conservative" position on offshore drilling, or energy policy in general? Recklessly exhausting all available resources now, and letting the future take care of itself -- or conserving those resources, investing carefully for the future, and thinking about the long term?

I can't remember what they called it, the thesis-antithesis-synthesis theory of history, but it sure has hung around a long time. Even though central planning a la the dictatorship of the proletariat has long since been discredited, the supposed dichotomy that supposedly would lead up to it -- conservative vs. liberal class struggle -- is still assumed to be valid. For me, it is not so much that the Republicans are two faced. Both they and Democrats have been (for the Democratic version, read Glenn Greenwood's current work on Hoyer) for a long time. What these incidents show, in my humble opinion, is that the whole conservative vs. liberal dichotomy exists mostly in our heads. The only effect this supposed dichotomy really has is that resulting from the fact not that it is true, but that people believe in it.

I am for establishing a new dichotomy; between the patrons and their clients (the rich and their politicians) on one side and the rest of us on the other side. Obama defines this as the Washington insiders versus the rest of us. He implies (rightfully, I think) that the red versus blue is just something they use to keep us occupied while they rob us of our present and our future. The success of his strategy of hope lies in the fact that most of us understand this in at least some unarticulated way. This is one reason why I, a Clintonite, will support Obama. I have some doubts about his ability to pull it off, but if he can, he may go down as one of the truly great presidents. What he is going to have to do is a lot and real fast, before the forces of power and patronage cant tempt the new congress in the ways that have ALWAYS worked before. Let us pray.

What your basicly looking at is hospice care for the economy.

Having a petrochemical based economy was something that we knew couldn't last due to the limited ammount of petrochemicals in existance.

The petrochemical based economy is dieing and there is very little that can be done except try and ease the pain of the patient.

So why not drill everywhere and anywhere, it's not going to change the final diagnosis, but it might make the patient fell better on the way to their final destination.

The real question is, do we want the patient to live, or do we want the patient just to die with dignity. If we want the patient to live, we really should try to get it off of petrochemcials and into a more stable energy lifestyle.

In that case we probably don't want more oil until it's really really necessary (like when we realize it's going to take more energy to get us to a point where we need less energy). At the moment, a temporary speculative boom, or a current capacity use of oil, is not a cause for more drilling.

We'll probably need that oil a lot more later, and will be glad we saved it for a rainy day. And if we do find a way out of our petrochemical based economy earlier than we thought, well then at least we didn't ruin the coast line with a bunch of oil rigs.

Well our new governor has certainly been busy; supporting property tax relief so that everyone's tax bill will go up not just the Real estate flippers and now he is in favor of offshore oil drilling. Brillant, now we can destroy our beaches and oceans-- the tourist and real estate industy's lifeblood-- to possibly, for the short term, save a few dollars at the pump. What about conservatism = conservationism? There is nothing logical about politics.

I've been hearing about this for decades (no new refinery has been built since 1967 and the old creaky refineries keep going off-line for age related ills) ...

Some of those windfall profits would do well to be put to use here ... of course, the complaints forever has been that no one wants one in their backyard ... well all that extra money might help improve the technology to make a new refinery a "better neighbor" ...

I think the oil companies was government assistance to build this thing (just like the nuclear industry demands it's revolving door kickback stuff).

With all the flooding this year, can another electrical blackout be far behind? Anyone remember the last one (just a few short months before 09/11) and the promise of infrastructure upgrades demanded then?

Hell, we'll all be riding Vespas in the snow before anyone gets around to doing anything besides calling for more research. The private sector isn't playing calvalry here ... (do they ever?) ...

we're screwed.

p.s. I made it a month on 1 tank of gasoline ... it sucked.

click in my name for a 2007 CNN info-ER on refinery capacity --

That is a great analogy to this issue, which is about long-term survival vs. short-term expediency. Fact is, immediate resumption of drilling won't yield a single drop for a long, long time, and it would be better to dedicate the nation's energy to something truly productive: rendering petroleum obsolete.

No, it's not going to happen overnight and yes, there will be considerable pain, but mostly it's going to take a conscious realignment by Americans to reality. Namely, the huge economic/political wave that this country had ridden since WWII and the Marshall Plan has petered out, the price of gas will NEVER go down and it's going to take some real American ingenuity and daring to put this country back on top.

We've done it before, but we can't rely on Darwinian free market principals to find a solution. It's going to take forward-thinking, intelligent leadership: a trait the GOP leadership completely lacks today.

I have to believe that if people are shown the truth and a real exit strategy, a majority will adjust their lifestyle to make it work.