Conservatism vs. Libertarianism

If you don't believe the Bush administration's total lack of focus on addressing our oil economy is purely self-serving, what does explain it? It is easy to say that Bush and Cheney both got rich in the oil business and are rewarding their friends and themselves. But perhaps it is their conservative convictions, their reluctance to interfere in the market place that drives their actions. Despite the evidence that conservatives are not reluctant to intervene when big business gets in trouble, as with the Chrysley bail-out, the Savings & Loan bail-out, which they would say is because it would have seriously wounded the entire economy (it's still tinkering with the market place isn't it?), suppose they really do think the market best adjusts itself.

Isn't that Ayn Rand libertarianism, not conservatism?

I am drawn to libertarianism (Vermotn comes closest, in some ways, to being a linertarian state than any I have lived in before), except that I don't trust our species to curb our own avarice even in the face of chaos and self-destruction. Lord Of The Flies is not only about adolescent behavior, it is about human behavior.

In the 70s, when the first Arab oil boycott disrupted our economy and our lives, after standing in gas lines, buying gas only on alternate days, we began looking for smaller gas-conserving cars and agreed to drop our speed limit to 55 mph. The oil rich nations saw their market shrinking, dropped prices, and we returned to our profligate ways.

You could make the case (I do) that our disastrous Iraq adventure stems from our renewed dependence on mideast oil.

So if conservatives have some interest in conserving the Unites States as a viable player in the world economy, wouldn't you think we might seriously address this matter?