America Is Not "Addicted to Oil"
July 6, 2006 

IRVINE, CA--Politicians and commentators tell us that we must end our "addiction to oil" as a matter of national security. But, said Alex Epstein, a junior fellow at the Ayn Rand Institute, "Oil is not an 'addiction'; it is a necessity of life. We are not 'addicted' to oil any more than we are 'addicted' to the myriad values it makes possible, like fresh food, imported electronics, going to work, or visiting loved ones.

"The problem we face today is not oil, but oil-rich enemy dictatorships like Iran and Saudi Arabia. These regimes use ill-gotten oil profits to terrorize us and to spread totalitarian Islamic ideology around the world. The solution is not to punish ourselves by renouncing oil--but to punish our enemies until they renounce their aggression."

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Alex Epstein was a writer and a fellow on staff at ARI between 2004 and 2011.