Endependence is energy independence that ends dependence on polluting fuels.

Every barrel of oil we don’t consume reduces the market and political power of nations such as Saudi Arabia, no matter where that barrel would have come from. Likewise, every barrel we don’t consume helps the environment and slows global warming, and whether it is foreign or domestic oil makes no difference. Energy conservation is what’s important. Energy independence doesn’t matter. -By Roger Sant and Michael Kinsley Sunday, December 14, 2008; Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/12/AR2008121203280.html

Our sentiments exactly, energy independence doesn’t matter.  Energy Independence is politician speak for “we’re not really going to do anything about our energy challenges.”

That is why we are starting a War for Endependence, the key ingredient of which is ending dependence on polluting fuels.

Sant and Kinsley make the point quite well that the only true independence from “foreign oil” or let’s say “foreign oil from countries we don’t like” will come from reducing our oil consumption to the point where we are only using our own oil or oil from countries we do like.

So, how do we use an ever decreasing amount of oil while keeping a vibrant economy and a good standard of living.  The answer is combination of conservation and substituting renewable energy for oil and other polluting fuels.

Plot it out.  Personal, Local, State and Federal.

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The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways.

That is the official name of the familiar roads we know as I-10, I-95, I-5, etc.

The Intestate part is obvious, but why “defense highways”?

The story boils down to the vision and efforts of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

In 1919, Lieutenant Colonel Eisenhower was part of an army convoy that crossed the country from Washington, D.C. to San Francisco.  The 81 vehicles took 62 days to cross the country at an average speed of 6 miles per hour.

After his stint as Supreme Allied Commander in WWII, and having seen the Autobahns in Germany, Eisenhower became convinced that it was imperative for the United States to build a high speed highway system to move materiel and troops in time of war.

The Interstate Highway System had other major benefits, changing the social and commercial fabric of the country.  America became a mobile culture.

How was the $129 Billion highway system paid for?  Through gasoline taxes.  At the time it was proposed, some of the critics called it a “socialistic scheme to transfer the cost of providing deluxe highways from those most benefited to the already heavily burdened landowner.”

Sound familiar?  Are there many around today who still bemoan the interstates as a socialistic scheme?

Now the parallel with the proposed alternative energy economic stimulus strategy being contemplated by the incoming Obama administration.

Endependence thinks a great case can be made to promote spending on alternative energy infrastructure as a matter of national defense.  We need to insulate ourselves from the spikes in the cost of fossil fuel energy and their toxic effects on the environment.  America should become the world leader in harvesting and using renewable energy.

We can pay for it with a gasoline tax, or a carbon tax.

A suggestion for a name for this move toward energy independence that ends dependence on polluting fuels:

The Barack Obama Interstate Alternative Energy Defense Network.

Here is the link to an article about the Interstate Highway system:

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2006/summer/interstates.html