Your cutesy attempt to point the other way aside, the folks you gripe about wanting alternative energy development and conservation are being progressive
Well Im one of them.

while the approach you embrace is regressive
Oh so increasing supply is now considered regressive?

You want to invest more in early 20th century tech, while many of us see more potential in investing in later 20th century tech.
I want to use what works now and plan for the future.

After all, it is amusing that you will say we need to be drilling like mad in one sentence, and then in another say this is a refining issue and there is no shortage of oil. Those are contradictory statements.
Somday yhou will wake up and realise this is a balancing act. The reason they dont drill more is because they couldnt refine it anyway. We need to both drill and build new refineries,

What is so awful about developing solar, wind, and other technology (including long range fusion work.)
Nothing again Im all for it.

Seems a lot more intelligent to be investing in these than in a declining resource.
First off we have to live now. Secondly once more there is plenty of oil left. We havent even gotten half of it yet at best.

We trumpet productivity improvements as driving our economy, why can't other efficiencies also improve it?
They can but let the market drive it.

Do you think we suddenly started running out of oil around a year ago? Oil is a commodity and its pricwe is whatever they think they can get away wiith. Their predicting shortages in supply and thats why the prices are going up just like they did in the 70s when we were "running out of oil"