This year’s Winter Olympics, usually a time of international cooperation and friendly competition, are tainted by tensions unfolding between communist China and the Western world. The ambiance is eerily reminiscent of the Cold War, with diplomatic boycotts, questionable disqualifications, and now anti-China legislation flying.
Recognizing the growing threat of dependence on China for everything from medicines to funding our budget deficits, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a 2,900-page bill dubbed the “America COMPETES Act of 2022,” intended to give the United States an economic upper hand over China, especially when it comes to technology and manufacturing.
The problem? The China bill will make the United States more dependent on the Red Dragon—not less—especially when it comes to energy.
The COMPETES Act is loaded with “green bling”—expensive, ineffective slush funds paid for by our tax dollars to appease the progressive climate wing. With line items to fund solar panels, “bolster climate diplomacy,” and dump $8 billion into the United Nations Green Climate Fund, the bill proposes spending billions on unnecessary programs that won’t affect our trade relationship with China or improve our competitiveness.
All this will accomplish is raising the price we have to pay for energy—a necessary component of every industry and every aspect of our lives—and make that energy less reliable.
Those advocating for funding decarbonization programs and renewable energy fail to realize that the renewable energy agenda necessitates dependence on China. Because while the wind and the sun may be free forever, the quantity of raw materials required to harness their energy—and especially to store it for times the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining—is mind-boggling.
Many of us don’t realize the massive role energy plays in every sector of our economy—which means it impacts every part of our day-to-day lives. Blinded by our comfortable, fossil fuel-powered lives, with lights and heat that almost never fail and smartphones that charge in a few minutes, we forget just how critical energy is to our physical and national security. We can’t eat, wear, buy, sell, or learn anything without energy—and any policy that weakens our access to energy threatens not only our individual quality of life, but also our nation’s role in the global balance of power.
Allowing responsible U.S. energy businesses to thrive means we can make more of the fuel we need right here at home—lowering our cost of living, creating good-paying jobs, and freeing the United States from dependence on unstable nations for the energy we need. The best way to make America more competitive with China and the rest of the world is to unleash the power of responsible domestic energy producers to liberate us from dependence on unstable nations for the energy and other goods we need.
We can have economic independence and export our values of freedom around the world with a strong energy industry—not with more green slush funds.