Drilling Us Deeper into Dependency

Ah, the political season. The time when the mute button on the remote comes in handy. since we receive our local channels from Missouri - a swing state that is also a bell weather state, the mute button will be worn out by November. However, I've been really disturbed by a very misleading ad put on by the McCain camp. It uses the fear tactic of rising oil prices and asks, "Who is really responsible for the energy crisis?" The ad then shows a photo of Obama with his supporters chanting his name.
Like Obama or not, he is not responsbile for our current energy crisis. Agree with his oil policy or not, a little research into the truth and you will find that drilling for more oil domestically will not solve our energy crisis. Drilling in the Artic Refuge, for example, would only provide us with enough oil for 6 months (based on our current domestic use) - and that's after the pipelines are in place and it is prepped for drilling - sometime after 2010.
I do not understand what about the terms "non-renewable energy" and "renewable energy" that people do not understand.
Oil is not renewable. It is not replacing itself at the rate we are taking it out of the ground. Even if it could solve our probelms indefinitely, it would run out eventually.
When we were in Europe, we were amazed at the planning and infrastructure the Germans have put into place, making walking, biking or riding trains a more efficient way to get someplace. They are not sprawled in suburban centers where people must drive to do the most basic things such as grocery shopping.
Our government needs to start looking toward the future. Planning urban centers that are pedestrian friendly, rather than suburbs that make us have to get into cars and drive. They need to invest quickly and wholeheartedly into renewable fuels and start promoting conservation of what we do have.
No, it isn't Obama who is responsbile for our current energy crisis. It is every voting man and woman in America who didn't demand, after the oil crisis in the 1970s, that our government take our dependence on oil seriously and start to make changes.
I applaud George Bush I for his initiative to end offshore drilling during his administration, but where was the leadership to find other sources since? My mother in law recently said, "If the tree huggers would just back off, we could drill for more oil here." Yes, we could. But it is that same ignorance that Americans have been hiding behind for 30 years that brought us here. It's time for us to take our heads out of the sand, quit looking for quick fixes to this mess and take responsibility for finding alternative, renewable fuels and preserving our world for future generations and maybe even making our children's and grandchildren's lives better. No one can convince me that we can send space ships to Mars and the moon and we cannot find a way to power our homes and vehicles without oil.
Oil is not the only thing that is not renewable. We must not ruin every inch of the earth or send more wild animals into extinction for our thirst for oil.