The Dangerous Delusions of Energy Independence

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Hillary Clinton, during her president campaign in 2007, said she wants to make America “energy independent and free of foreign oil”(306). This quote is especially true for American since they love Independence and try to control everything. Robert Bryce, in his essay “The Dangerous Delusions of Energy Independence,” explores how much Americans want to be independent and the differences between the rhetoric and reality when it comes to energy. In the beginning, Bryce declares that Americans love independence, whether it is financial dependence, political dependence, the Declaration of Independence, or grilling hotdogs on Independence Day. All of those things are just about to convince that Americans love freedom and autonomy. Besides that, America also wants to be independent in energy because it is one of the countries that using the most energy in the world, and if America depends a lot on energy import, it could against the biggest economy once the suppliers stop to export energy. The author pointed out that “Energy dependence” deemed to be the topic, the big prize, for the candidates and political operatives to appeal to the cross sections of voters. There were many plans for the United States with super cheap fuel, the farmers will be happy with billions of barrels of biofuels which produced by corns or other plants, and lots of new energy technologies will create a lot of good paying jobs. Then, U.S soldiers will never have to visit the Persian Gulf for oil or except for vacation. The theory of energy independence has become really bright and sensible until the September 11th; America was attacked. For this reason, he mentions that many Americans have been hypnotized to two issues: oil and terrorism. Americans consider that all the foreign oil, and thus all the foreign energy is bad. It is something danger to the economy, a danger to security of the national,
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