Energy independence woks fine IF you have the specific types of raw materials you need for your use. If the US needs more light crude, for example, than we can produce we must import it from somewhere. IF we were burning a lot of coal and needed anthracite it really doesn't matter of the Powder River Basin is full of bituminous; we need the other.

I very much agree with Tug that we need to re-home industries and energy. But we don't have all the raw materials we need. We can't grow all the food we need, when we want it. Just where, in the US, are you gonna grow all those fruits and veggies we eat through the winter?

We, for better or for worse, depend on the rest of the world to supply items we can't for won't do ourselves. And, as we know from labor costs, manufacturing here will increase costs which means wages have to up. Kind of a vicious circle.