Years ago when he was running for President, Mike Huckabee stated that "a nation that cannot defend itself, feed itself, or fuel itself is not free." I'm not sure if that's his or if he stole it from someone else, but I agree completely. I would also argue we should push that a bit further and say, "a PERSON who cannot defend himself, feed himself, or fuel himself is not free."

Obviously, we're focusing on the fuel part of the freedom equation.

With this in mind, a freedom-minded conservative should want to decentralize energy production as much as possible. If you can install solar panels on your home, and ideally own those solar panels outright, you will be more free than someone relying on the international grid. If the grid shuts down in your area, due to technical problems, foreign hackers, or any reason other than an electromagnetic pulse, you're still going to enjoy life sustaining electricity. If you have an electric car, you'll still be able to charge that car's batteries and have the freedom to travel when others wait on the restoration of the grid.

Ultimately, it's those pesky batteries that are the best argument against renewable energy. Environmentalists will note how destructive lithium mining is to the planet. Conservatives on the other hand should note that the vast majority of these batteries are produced in China. The United States has an abundant supply of fossil fuels. One of the few resources we lack are lithium, an incredibly important component in the construction of the modern batteries that power your laptops, phones, cars, watches, and virtually everything else that gets recharged.

While I don't think we should give up on fossil fuels entirely, I do think we should be trying to move on from them for a multitude of reasons. A non-exhaustive list is provided below:

• Pollution is Bad
  • Pollution hurts land values and lowers property tax revenues collected by the local governments
  • Pollution hurts public health in low income areas the hardest, increasing the burden of public health on taxpayers
  • Pollution is just unpleasant.
• The demand for fossil fuels finance Russian, Venezuelan, and several Islamic dictatorships.
• Public reliance on fossil fuels makes the strategic reserve too tempting to plunder.
  • The strategic reserve should be used exclusively for times of war.
  • Americans' daily energy consumption should not be reliant on the use of the strategic reserve.
• Fossil fuels are limited resources and reserving them for manufacturing for future generations ensures the future prosperity of the nation.
• Space Travel: Fossil fuels are too heavy and too difficult to turn into efficient power. Consumers and the Space Agencies would benefit from sharing the same energy technology.
• In war, strikes on energy infrastructure will not be as devastating if renewable energies are widely adopted, saving billions of dollars in humanitarian relief.
• Progressive shills might stop screaming about global warming... if only we could stop cows from farting.

Do these benefits outweigh the cost of empowering China? That's a surprisingly difficult question to answer, especially since they're the most likely antagonist behind all of the national security related items in the list. However, that does not mean we should give up on renewable energies. It just means that we should develop new battery technology as part of our renewable energy programs.

Battery technology has changed radically over the past 30 years, and it's on the verge of shifting even more radically in the next 30 years to come now that we're in the advent of the commercial solid state battery. Back in 2017, John Goodenough (a co-inventor of the Lithium Ion battery in use today) unveiled the solid-state glass battery; which can use lithium, potassium, or sodium as the alkali metal anode. Furthermore, a Japanese company, Murata Manufacturing, has begun mass production of solid state batteries for small electronic devices such as earphones and smart watches. The trend is expanding too, as Toyota may be using solid state batteries in their cars as soon as 2027 and Nissan hoping to do the same by 2028.

Batteries are currently the weak link in renewable energy solutions. However, that will likely not be the case in 20 years. In the meantime, the United States should be maneuvering itself to take advantage of the ongoing battery revolution by creating a regulatory and tax environment encouraging citizens and corporations alike to begin adopting renewable and decentralized energy production now so consumers are ready for the new generation of batteries before being blindsided by the seismic shift in energy production and storage coming their way.

Much like Saudi Arabia and Russia are dependent on the sale of oil to keep their economies afloat and risk economic ruin when the change occurs, China is already benefiting from our reliance on lithium ion batteries. While China is more diversified, they will still take a massive hit when non-lithium solid state batteries become economical. We should take the same approach to lithium and China as we do with oil and the middle east, rather than saying we should be free from batteries solely because it benefits China in the current moment.

Like everything regarding batteries: That will change for the better. We just have to be patient and ready to take advantage.