by Rob Nixon

About the author: Rob Nixon teaches English and environmental studies at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

For 70 years, oil has been responsible for more of America’s international entanglements and anxieties than any other industry. Oil continues to be a major source both of America’s strategic vulnerability and of its reputation as a bully, in the Islamic world and beyond.

President George W. Bush recently urged America to reduce its reliance on foreign oil. We can take his argument further: by scaling back our dependence on imported oil, we can not only strengthen national security but also enhance America’s international image in terms of human rights and environmentalism.

Importing oil costs the United States over $250 billion a year, if one includes federal subsidies and the health and...