Bush has halted deposits to the SPR, and nobody’s figured out his strategy yet. It’s actually rather funny that people are so mystified by his energy policy… How can he let gas prices get so high? they wonder. Why doesn’t he encourage alternative fuel sources?! they scream. You can’t find an answer, my friends, because your questions are wrong.

You can’t make substantial changes to society just by signing a law. Americans — and indeed humans in general — don’t like being told what to do. You can’t shift us away from an oil-driven society just by deciding that we’re not going to use oil anymore, because a large portion of the population will immediately inevitably move to stop your plan from succeeding.

The trick to making people do what you want is to make them want the same thing. If you want people to stop driving gas-guzzling road hogs, what better technique than to let gas prices continue to rise? If you want to see the development of alternative energy sources, what better method than to create a climate where basic market forces provide all the impetus any CEO could ever need?

But Sean you say, if Chimpy McHalliburton really is pursuing that sort of plan, why hasn’t he told us about it? Because if he did, the plan wouldn’t work. Duh. This school of manipulation — the ‘make them think it’s their idea school’ — is entirely dependent on your quarry never realizing they’re being played.

So why am I telling you this? Because there isn’t the slightest chance in hell that you’ll believe me.