Drill Instructor

In response to the Folksy Allegory proposed earlier, commenter AD (clearly some sort of elitist with too much knowledge to be trusted) writes:

It's a good allegory, but it's questionably apposite. Can you really say how much oil there is in ANWAR, e.g., what difference it will make and when, and how bad it will hurt the ecosystem and aesthetics of the land in question? I think the problem with the ANWAR issue is that no one really knows. Very few people visit the land, but it's one of the few truly wild and natural places in our country. The economic value of drilling is also a mystery. We really oppose it on principle, just as some favor it on principle: people who think (1) government should help entrepreneurs make money and/or (2) liberals have taken over the government and care too much about fish and moose and not enough about their (the peoples') economic problems. The allegory doesn't work because it works based on stark assumptions about the value of the benefit and the cost, which are in reality unproven and value-laden, or at least in the average undecided voter's mind.

To respond:

1) Mystery Democrat deliberately elided the issue of coastal drilling with the issue of ANWR drilling for a few reasons. One is that Mystery Democrat doesn't know anything about mineral extraction, nature, the environment, Alaska or off-shore oil rigs. Secondly, it would seem to be a good idea to lump all "drilling" together rhetorically, since most of the voting public shares Mystery Dem's ignorance, and it's easier to just attack all drilling than to say, OK, some drilling is OK but other drilling isn't and the American people are like, stop, stop, make up your mind we are so bored stop making us listen to all these words you flip-flopper.

2) People seem to be annoyed when killjoys tell them they can't have a good time all the time. The drilling issue was working (somewhat) for McCain, because people were all like, OK, maybe it will only lower gas prices a little, but why wouldn't you try it? Is it because you are EAST COAST ELITE KILLJOYS WHO LOOK DOWN ON ME AND THE REST OF REAL AMERICANS? And also, DO SOMETHING!

So it seemed like the best way to convince voters that drilling was a bad idea was to say that it was a losing proposition. Not worth the effort. Costs more than it'll make, and we're spoiling this nice park and/or beach and/or waterfront at the same time.

And if the facts are otherwise, then you can have your facts, my good sir.

Although I suppose the most important thing here is that energy prices have, at least for the moment, been supplanted as the primary economic concern in voters' minds at the moment, so it's probably not the time to bring back all that drilling talk...

Oil rig photo used under Creative Commons license from Flickr user ccgd.