Old habits die hard. Really

After receiving several shotgun e-mails from someone I'd loosely describe as a radio-driven Conservative, I'm wondering out loud where shouting starts and discussion ends. I believe that what passes for discussion has over the past generation deteriorated into a shouting contest. I'd also be ignoring the obvious if my own liberal political bias didn't get full credit.
Someone in a discussion I remember but can't place said the reason liberal radio fails is because it's willing to entertain discussion and try for consensus, making boring progamming. The reason conservative media succeeds is because the talent tells the audience how and what to believe and isn't shy about the process. Listeners eat up someone who tells them that if things were only how they used to be, life would be better.
What a crock.
Right now the US - and the world at large - seem to be heading for a series of meltdowns. The obvious indicator - gas prices at retail are hovering at $4 per gallon.
Great. Let's do something.
Drill for more so the vehicles we collectively operate can keep rolling. Pump crude out of the ground into pipelines that connect to refineries that are already running at capacity. Keep ervery car in the US on the road no matter what the mileage or efficiency and smile while doing it. Drill anywhere that has hydrocarbons buried close by. Yippie! Gas for everybody!
But lets slow down for a quick second.
The US is refining everything we can with the facilities in place, the pipes are full, the dollar is sinking against foreign currencies creating more expensive imports, and demand on producers is rising worlwide. Suddenly India and China - the folks that WalMart sources a goodly chunk of their buying from - have cash to bid up the price of commodity imports.
In the end, we've gotta find a way to do more with less. There just isn't any way around it. If we all need to drive tiny cars, and build nuclear power plants, let's get it on. The Third World may not be for much longer.