Cliff, anyone who wants to buy a flex-fuel or hybrid vehicle can, and get a nice tax credit into the bargain. Surveys have shown that most people who are in the market for a car know about these choices, and that should come as no surprise given the massive green advertising push by the motor industry (Big Three included). And as for choice, no one who doesn’t want to contribute to the ethanol cartel is currently allowed that choice. I have to buy ethanol if I want to power my vehicle. So, please join us in trying to repeal the ethanol mandate!
But your main point, “if most cowboys were members of al-Qaeda, I’d probably buy lamb instead,” just doesn’t apply because, and I’ve said this many times before, we don’t actually get most of our oil/steak from producers/cowboys who support Al Qaeda, or even Hugo Chavez! Our biggest supplier of oil is Canada. Mexico is number three. We don’t get any oil from Iran at all. We get less than 20% of our oil from the Persian Gulf, and that includes friendly countries like Kuwait and Iraq.
Oil is dominant in the market as a result of competition. People know it provides the most energy at the lowest cost, and that is essential for economic recovery. Alternative energy sources — including vehicle fuels — are currently a luxury we literally can’t afford, but sadly it looks like ideology will try to impose them on us. That isn’t good for America, and an economically-challenged, fuel-poor America is the last thing national security advocates should want, as the Joint Forces Command recently pointed out.