Corn Independence

The notion of energy independence seems very troubling, and hopefully not very probable. First off, why would we choose two or three commodities that we call "energy" which we really like, and tell the rest of the world we don't want any from them any more? It is possible that we perceive energy to be so important to our national security and future survival that we want to handle this one on our own. If these commodities truly are that important, why not consume all we can from the rest of the world now and save ours for later. Seems like there are many other products produced by the rest of the world we may not be able to live without that we don't mind buying. Should we become steel independent, we need steel to build war ships and tanks to defend our country? Seems like the more countries depend on each other, the less likely they would be to engage in aggressive behavior in the first place.

To be independent, we will either have to draw down our own resources or find technologies that don't use the resources we formerly associated with "energy". In fifteen years, will there be headlines about how we need to be corn independent or questions about what to do with all of our oil and gas now that no one uses it.