Here's a good little article from Front Page Magazine. It puts energy policy into context, not just Democrat vs. Republican but also McCain vs. Obama. If the Republicans and McCain come out swinging on this issue, it will be the knockout punch that will put the Dems back into the minority where they belong.
| Last week, McCain pledged to end the 1982 moratorium on offshore gas and oil drilling in the continental United States. This week, he proposed offering $300 million to any automaker or individual that can develop a better car battery, as well as $5,000 in tax credits to consumers who buy zero-emission vehicles. Speaking directly to Americans’ concerns about an energy crisis, McCain's two-pronged offensive also has put Democrats on the defensive. Despite their advantage in the polls, Democrats are especially vulnerable on energy issues. In 2006, they promised a "common sense" solution to oil prices. All they have done, however, is blame oil companies and threaten new taxes. |
Yep. That is all the Dems have done. They have not proposed one single new initiative that will help ease our pain at the gas pumps. They have only proposed that which will make our pain worse.
The article continues:
| The United States has the largest oil shale deposits in the world in the Green River basin, from which it is (conservatively) estimated that 800 billion barrels of oil can be recovered. Meanwhile, according to a 1998 U.S. Geological Survey, ANWR probably could produce another 10 billion barrels. With resources like these, America would no longer need oil from adversarial oil-rich nations. And this is just scratching the surface. Technologies that convert coal into synthetic fuel are already economical and feasible, and America has 25 percent of all the coal reserves in the world. No wonder many conservatives want these regions included in future exploration. And not just conservatives. As quoted in news reports, even some Democratic insiders and strategists "admit privately" that that "they are impressed with the new Republican campaign” because "gives the GOP an opportunity to talk about taking action on a matter of huge importance to the voters.” |
And therein lies the opportunity that I mentioned above. We are very angry at the Dems. We are angry that gas, energy and food prices have gone up beyond the national inflation rate ever since they took control of Congress and passed that idiotic ethanol law.
More:
| House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently captured her party’s deafness to national concerns on energy. “We cannot drill our way out of this,” she insisted. Instead, the California Democrat fell back on conspiracy theory, blaming the president and vice-president for high gas prices. "A barrel of oil now costs four times more than it did when President Bush took office," she argued. "Two oil men in the White House, cost of oil four times higher. Price at the pump: $4 a gallon." The claim will not withstand scrutiny. Experts have argued for some time now that the growing economies of China and India and their demand for oil are the main reason for higher energy prices worldwide. But it's hard for liberals to abandon their old, anti-capitalist orthodoxies. Listen to Maurice Hinchey, a left wing New York Democrat, who contends that oil companies are not drilling on the lands they already lease because they are waiting for the price of oil to go up to "$200 or $300 a barrel so they can make even greater profits." Acting on that assumption, Democratic congressmen are introducing legislation that will force oil companies to explore the properties they already lease or pay fees (an indirect tax) that will increase over time. This idea is almost as bad as Hinchey's proposal last week (from which he later retreated) that the federal government should own oil refineries to gain some control of the supply. Lost on these politicians is that any new fees oil companies pay will be passed on to consumers at the pump. Barack Obama's plan for a tax on oil profits would have exactly this effect. Drivers would simply pay more. |
The Dems are so far out of touch on this one, most important issue that we really need to get them out of office before they send us flying head first into a new Great Depression. Nancy Pelosi's embrace of hair-brained conspiracy theories is proof positive of that.
You can access the complete column on-line here:
McCain’s Energy Independence
Stephen Brown and Sean Daniels
FrontPageMag.com
June 24, 2008
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