Speaking of non-violent ways of getting serious about the WOT, Set America Free has graphs and articles galore on the topic of reducing America's dependency on foreign oil. This seems like a no-brainer, since we can't really tell the Saudis to get stuffed if we import 60% of the oil we need. And, of course, there's the whole issue of competing for that oil with the Chinese.
I always doubted that hybrid cars could put much of a dent in our oil imports, but in their Blueprint for Energy Security (pdf), Set America Free says that gasoline accounts for 45% of US oil consumption. So if we could cut that in half, which they claim we could, that would be worth doing.
One of their favorite ideas is the hybrid electric car. They say that half of all Americans drive their car less than 20 miles a day, so if your battery could take you 20 miles, and then charge up at night when the electric grid has excess capacity, you could use no gas at all and not require any addition infrastructure to be built. The cars would run on gas after 20 miles, so drivers wouldn't be inconvenienced. They've got several ideas that use existing technology.
After all, we're spending $87 billion in Iraq for national security. Our dependency on foreign oil has a much more obvious connection to our security. Why not throw in another billion or so for something that would be good for the environment and good for national security? There's not much that would disturb the House of Saud more than America no longer being interested in their long-term survival.
(via The Corner)
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