To create more supply of fossil fuels, the country needs to encourage the construction of new electricity plants and oil refineries. The aim here is efficiency, not austerity. And Cheney said no to price controls, and pointed to the need for more than 1,000 new power plants in the next two decades to meet expected demand. No drilling in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, no consideration of nuclear power and lots and lots of conservation. They attacked the Bush administration for its oil-industry background.
Conservation is important, but it often takes on the aura of a moral crusade.
A growing country and booming economy cannot sustain themselves by forcing individuals to cut back electricity use to the barest essentials. Electricity, gasoline and other resources are just products we cannot see a moral dimension in forcing people to suffer, say, without air conditioning as a way to conserve electricity. The vice president is right. Suffering may be good for the soul, but it wreaks havoc on the economy. Politicians ought to leave the virtues to individuals and clerics, and spend their time removing barriers to the production of fossil fuels and electricity.