Yesterday National Review Online featured a piece on American energy policy by John McCain that can be found here. McCain writes that “America’s dependency on foreign oil is a major strategic vulnerability for our nation.” In short, McCain proposes to “implement an energy plan that won’t be another grab bag of handouts, a full employment act for lobbyists, nor another round of tax breaks and other subsidies to big oil.” Remember: “Change Begins with Us”! My favorite part of the McCain essay–and the full article is well-worth your time–comes toward the end:
The barriers to nuclear energy are political not technological. We’ve let the fears of 30 years ago, and an endless political squabble over the storage of nuclear spent fuel, make it virtually impossible to build a single new plant that produces a form of energy that is safe and non-polluting. If France can produce 80 percent of its electricity with nuclear power, why can’t we? Is France a more secure, advanced, and innovative country than we are? Are France’s scientists and entrepreneurs more capable than we are? I need no answer to that rhetorical question. I know my country well enough to know otherwise.
Since Sarkozy’s election and France’s policy shift on Iran, conservatives have–rightly!–been reluctant to engage in Franco-criticism. Which is what makes McCain’s riff so refreshing.
