Energy Security Populism: Oil Prices, American Leaders, and Media
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
The following guest essay is by Kevin Kane. Kevin is an energy market strategist, Asia political affairs analyst, and Korean language linguist living in Seoul, South Korea. Kevin previously published American Freedom from Oil: A Bipartisan Pipedream.
Energy Security Populism:
Oil Prices, American Leaders, and Media
By Kevin P. Kane
American leaders and news outlets often refer to American-company overseas oil field purchases, oil & gas discoveries, freedom-from-oil initiatives, and offshore drilling as vehicles towards energy security. These efforts do not, and cannot, enhance oil security for the U.S. without simultaneously increasing global oil security—defined as insulation from price and supply shocks.
Inaccurate views and statements coming from our leaders continue to misinform the public about the nature of oil and its relationship to energy security. Insofar, leaders often refer to supply initiatives such as offshore drilling, foreign oil field developments, and exploratory block procurements as national zero-sum pursuits for energy security; statements that perpetuate these views reflect a calculating effort to appeal to American liberal and conservative energy populism. No choice of energy-related rhetoric could be more misleading to the public and farther from the economic and financial integration truth. Although Republican and Democrat leaders are equally responsible for appealing to energy security populism for political support, reporters also help to circulate these misleading and framing-loaded statements through media outlets.
Past & Present Oil Supply Security
In 1980 following Soviet military gains near oil producing states, the Iranian Revolution, the Arab Oil Embargo, and the Organization of Petroleum Export Countries (OPEC) price hikes, President Jimmy Carter contended in his State of the Union address,
“The region which is now threatened by Soviet troops in Afghanistan is of great strategic importance: It contains more than two-thirds of the world’s exportable oil… therefore, that poses a grave threat to the free movement of Middle East oil… An attempt by any outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf region
