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Promoted from the diaries by streiff. Promotion does not imply endorsement.
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First, a quick geopolitical observation.

Rather than another multi-trillion dollar war campaign in the Persian Gulf costing thousands of young American lives, not to mention it would inspire another generation of Islamic anti-American passions, I have a better idea. How about peace and prosperity?

With help from our country’s petropreneurs and their quintessential, American ingenuity that has unleashed a technology-driven energy renaissance, America could finally become energy independent. We can do it starting right here in California. And why not? We fancy ourselves as the tail that wags the dog.

California’s “woke”, “progressive” leaders beginning with California State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson should commit to doing something bold, something audacious. Indeed, something very woke and very progressive.

California should produce and refine most of the oil and gas our residents consume.

There’s a precedent for this. California grows and cultivates the marijuana we smoke. I’d say let’s do it for the children, but suddenly that doesn’t sound right. But let’s still do it.

As has been pointed out numerous times by me and others smarter than me, California imports 57% of our oil supply from foreign sources. 49% arrives via tankers traveling from the Persian Gulf. A 49-day ocean journey…but who’s counting?

Saudi Arabia is the source of 37% of the 49% of the oil California imports from the Persian Gulf, a country with an unquestionably abominable human rights record.

And while America isn’t currently at war with Saudi Arabia, and likely never will be, still, our reliance on the Saudis for 37% of our State’s oil and gas supply inevitably leads to America’s constant geopolitical focus on this very troubled region of the world.

The Middle East, the main region for California’s oil supply, is a hotbed of wars, rumors of wars, terrorism, religious and sectarian violence, geopolitical tension, and mayhem.

Why California’s “progressive” political leaders – from Santa Barbara County to Sacramento to Washington D.C. – seem content turning a blind eye to the human-rights injustices going on in this part of the world is, to be honest, a mystery to me.

I’m just not woke enough apparently to figure it out.

Some might suggest I’m being churlish or unfair. After all, what evidence do I have that California’s human-rights-social-justice champions turn a blind eye to the atrocities being committed in the Middle East? Certainly, there’s nothing that has been said on the record to suggest they either approve of or don’t care about, what is happening over there.

And maybe if I were to do a deep dive on the internet I’d uncover some very articulate and thoughtful statements to the contrary. After all, that must be true because these are really good people. Much better people than we are. Or at least better than I am. I’m a Republican after all. How good could I possibly be?

There can be little doubt that the person the Santa Barbara Independent has renamed “Action Jackson” has stated many times that by ending California’s addiction to fossil fuels a host of wonderful things would happen.

Perhaps chief among them is that Solvang and Buellton won’t end up in the Coastal Zone in 12-years. She’s probably even said that working families could avoid the mysteriously high cost of gas if they’d simply switch from driving a gas powered car to driving an electric vehicle.

And I’m sure Senator Hannah-Beth “Taxin-Action” Jackson is in favor of many other wonderful things happening as a result of such, uh, action…

Senator Jackson’s very good goodness, and her very woke wokeness, and her very progressive progressiveness is overflowing with very obvious impressiveness.

Now, after that rather lengthy digression, I really must again ask the question: has Hannah-Beth Jackson, or any of the more junior members of the local Democratic Party, addressed the unconscionable and abominable human rights abuses being carried out by the brutal Middle Eastern regimes California helps bankroll?

Because if so, I have a solution. Think globally, act locally.

(Joe Armendariz is the Director of Special Projects and Energy, Business, and Strategic Partner Development at Armendariz Partners and is a contributing diarist for RedState.
He can be reached at [email protected]. You can also follow him on Twitter.)