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[magical thyme]

48. I think there are other factors that people tend to forget, especially

in the heat of the presidential race. The prez inherited an economy on the brink of catastrophe. A couple well-aimed and timed strikes could have collapsed it.

Forget about "looking weak" for the moment. If we walked away before Afghanistan and Iraq had decent security re-established, al Qaeda could take out our access to significant amounts of oil. They could bring the west -- especially the US -- to its knees in a heartbeat. Our society is so dependent on cheap oil it's terrifying and should never have been allowed to happen. Ending that dependency can't happen as quickly as people imagine. It's not just about cars.

Our agricultural system depends on it. I moved to a rural area 9 years ago and am now able to grow much of my own organic food supply in my yard and able to access even more locally. How many people in the US can say that? They think food prices are high now...cut off our oil and the supermarket shelves would decline precipitously and prices would skyrocket. We would have people starving.

Our health care system depends on it. The amount of energy burned by a hospital is staggering, both in running the hospital and in making and maintaining the instruments and supplies. We think health care is expensive now...cut off oil and prices would skyrocket even as supplies declined. All the ACA in the world wouldn't matter. Sick people would be doomed people.

Most of us still depend on it for heat. There are many, many people in the northern tiers (myself included) who would be at risk of freezing. I can heat 2 rooms with electricity, so as long as that continues I'd probably survive and luckily my state is already transitioning to renewables. To my north they get their electricity via a river. My immediate area just announced the first tidal system. So the transition is happening, but we were very, very vulnerable 4 years ago, and remain very vulnerable today.

So I tend to think that we have to keep al Qaeda at bay long enough to restructure so we don't need foreign oil. And I think that's what the Prez has been doing. Juggling a few dozen critical balls to keep the entire country from a disastrous collapse the could potentially kill millions, if not tens of millions.