Friedman Gets It

Another excellent column from Thomas L. Friedman. This morning he discusses why the recent energy bill is bad for America.

This bill...contains massive pork slabs dished out to the vested interests who need them least - like oil companies - and has no overarching strategy to deal with the new world.

...we are in a war. It is a war against open societies mounted by Islamo-fascists, who are nurtured by mosques, charities and madrasas preaching an intolerant brand of Islam and financed by medieval regimes sustained by our oil purchases.

Yes, we are financing both sides in the war on terrorism: our soldiers and the fascist terrorists. George Bush's failure, on the morning after 9/11, to call on Americans to accept a gasoline tax to curb our oil imports was one of the greatest wasted opportunities in U.S. history.

The new energy bill includes support for corn-based ethanol, but, bowing to the dictates of the U.S. corn and sugar lobbies (which oppose sugar imports), it ignores Brazilian-style sugar-based ethanol, even though it takes much less energy to make and produces more energy than corn-based ethanol. We are ready to import oil from Saudi Arabia but not sugar from Brazil.

The sum of all lobbies. ...

It seems as though only a big crisis will force our country to override all the cynical lobbies and change our energy usage. I thought 9/11 was that crisis. It sure was for me, but not, it seems, for this White House, Congress or many Americans. Do we really have to wait for something bigger in order to get smarter?

I have often said that Friedman should run for president. In fact, I was so disenchanted with the Democratic field in last year's primary election that I cast a write-in vote for Mr. Friedman.

Many on the left would disagree because of his position on out-sourcing and globalization (a position with which I agree) and because of his support for the war in Iraq (a position with which I disagree to the extent that the President lied to get us there). Despite those two issues (and I admit they are big issues), Friedman's credentials are solidly liberal.

I highly recommend his latest book, "The World Is Flat," as well as his collection of columns, "Longitudes and Attitudes."