Consider the level at which energy policy is being debated. Which would you rather do, get a new tire gauge or drill for oil? I’m sure that neither Barack Obama nor John McCain seriously believe that either alternative a real and complete energy policy. They are both caricatures of one.

But if you take tire gauges and drills as proxies for a policy point of view, it boils down to conservation versus exploration; doing with less versus getting more. Thus reduced, there’s no need to talk about BTUs, barrels per day, costs or anything if we can turn the question to a philosophical or religious debate.