Our Oil Dependence

  The editorial I am writing about tonight is titled "Drill Baby Drill, Redux" from The New York Times. When I first began reading this editorial, I was put off by the author's obvious disdain for republicans. I got about half-way through and I was still thinking of trying to find another piece to write on because this guy didn't seem to want to make any point besides that Obama is the greatest and republicans have it all wrong. He maintains this perspective throughout the article, but he does eventually say somethings worth reading. His general stance is that republicans are blaming Obama for the high gas prices for political reasons and that it's actually largely out of his control.
  He begins by saying that republicans think that drilling is the key to solving our oil problems and they believe Obama has held them back. He defends Obama saying "oil production is actually up from 5.4 million barrels a day in 2004 to 5.59 million now." I am skeptical how relevant this data is, assuming it is correct. I mean, he is saying that over the last 8 years, 4 of which had nothing to do with Obama, the crude oil production has gone up by a whopping 3.5%. I'm sure that any republican would reply that gas prices have gone up much more than our production because drilling efforts have been stifled. This is a weak beginning to his argument, I think, but it does get better.
  His second point is one I often think about when I hear of some ridiculously large company complaining about taxes. He says that republicans are blaming Obama for high gas prices because of a proposed repeal of $4 billion tax break for the oil industry, when the "five biggest players posted $137 billion in profits last year." I think it is really silly how quick people jump on the no tax bandwagon. The effect of the proposed repeal of a tax break on such a large industry, I think, would be negligible.
  So what is the cause of the rising gas prices? He claims that the demand for gas is continually going up and that the supply is often erratic. He cites China as a growing gas guzzler, and the recent tension with Iran has caused world-wide problems. He claims that America, which uses more than 20% of the world's oil supply, only owns 2% of the oil reserves. No amount of drilling is going to make up for our lack of a nonrenewable resource, in the long term.
  The solutions he proposes, which I actually completely agree with, are to continue to produce as much oil as possible while cutting our consumption and looking to alternative fuels. Our dependence on oil is a huge problem for the US, we are slaves to gas prices. How much stronger would our economy be if we didn't throw so much money away overseas? Yes, there are a lot of Americans that make money off of oil but, as a nation, we are making other countries rich. As someone who loves science and innovation, I know that there are ways we can revolutionize the way we fuel our country. The hard part is getting anyone to buy into it and look ahead. We need to be a little less capitalistic and a little more reasonable.