let’s try this again
do you want to renegotiate nafta? why?
do you realize that it would antagonize canada if we did? What do you think would be the consequences? I think we would lose special treatment for Canada’s oil resources. I think there would be many other negative consequences.
We are discussing national policy. I had every right to assume that when you mentioned reducing energy consumption, you were talking about national policy and not just yourself.
>>let’s try this again<<
Thanks for calming down! Thanks for (implicitly) admitting that I never suggested “screwing” Canada or increasing our reliance upon Saudi oil. Thanks for retracting your accusation of “enviro-socialism” because I suggested that we could reduce energy waste.
>>do you want to renegotiate nafta? why?<<
Because a treaty is a piece of paper, a business agreement, not chiseled in stone, and there is nothing wrong with periodically reviewing it to see if it a) has achieved the objectives we had hoped it would, or b) could benefit from a revamping.
>>do you realize that it would antagonize canada if we did? What do you think would be the consequences? I think we would lose special treatment for Canada’s oil resources. I think there would be many other negative consequences.<<
I think that it depends upon how clever we are before and at the negotiating table.
>>We are discussing national policy. I had every right to assume that when you mentioned reducing energy consumption, you were talking about national policy and not just yourself.<<
Indeed, I WAS talking - not only about my personal behavior - but by extension, the behavior of every patriotic American -but also about national policy.
Personal behavior: I think that it is the duty of every patriotic American to consider what he can do in his private life to strengthen his country - be it starting a “Victory Garden” during WWII, or foregoing “joy rides” during what amounts to a perennial Energy Crisis.
National policy: I think that our national government should give more thought to promoting research in the reduction of energy waste and the tapping of new domestic energy sources and the improved exploitation of existent domestic energy sources.
BTW: I am a stockholder in a Canadian oil sands company.