Posted on 04/24/2006 9:03:21 AM PDT by oldtimer2
Three Dollar Gasoline: an Opportunity, Not a Crisis, April 24th, 2006
Some observers think that President Bush's dismal job approval rating is not about the mess in Iraq. It is not about the shocking corruption of the Republican Congress. It is not even about President Bush's failure to prevent Hurricane Katrina. It reflects Americans' rage at $3.00 per gallon gasoline.
How can you pursue happiness in that mammoth Ford Expedition with heated leather seats if your gas bill starts competing with your mortgage payment?
Democrats have suddenly discovered that they are shocked (shocked!) by high gas prices. The New York Times reports that
Democrats running for Congress are moving quickly to use the most recent surge in oil and gasoline prices to bash Republicans over energy policy.
Oh really?
o This is the party that stopped the nation building nuclear plants.
o This is the party that toyed with carbon taxes.
o This is the party of Al Gore, now right in the middle of publicizing An Inconvenient Truth, by far the most terrifying movie you will ever see.
o This is the party that won't let oil companies prospect for oil off the left and right coasts.
o This is the party whose activists prevented the US from building new petroleum refineries.
o This is the party that filibusters against drilling for oil in an arctic wilderness that just happens to be right next to a major oil pipeline with spare capacity.
And now Democrats are bashing Republicans over energy policy?
Yes, and Republicans better get out in front of them before $3.00 gasoline and An Inconvenient Truth brew up a perfect storm and blow the nation into an eco-Marshall Plan to increase energy taxes and throw subsidies at a daunting array of environmentalist pet projects from wind farms to biodiesel.
Read Al Gore's article in Vanity Fair to understand just how terrified you should be. After reciting the usual catalog of climate changes, he warns of the 10,000 foot mound of ice on top of Greenland that would, if it melted or broken up, raise the sea level worldwide by more than 20 feet. In the face of all this, why is it that our leaders seem not to hear such clarion warnings? Maybe, Al, it because they don't just listen to eco-alarmists like you but also contrarian ideas like the theory of the University of Virginia's Bill Ruddiman that global warming from agriculture has already staved off the next ice age.
Al Gore reminds us that The Chinese expression for crisis consists of two characters:
The first is a symbol for danger
the second is a symbol for opportunity.
He is a politician and he would know. It is when they feel danger that the people rise up and demand that the politicians "do something." For a brief window of opportunity the special interest blocking forces are weakened as the people demand that the politicians lead them to safety.
All the stars are in alignment. Americans are angry as they shovel out $80 to fill up their SUVs. The Democrats are hypocritically on the attack, threatening to get to the right of the president; the mainstream media is baying for blood, shoveling anecdotal stories of helpless consumers ruined by high gas prices.
Usually economic "crises" are bad news because they provide an excuse for the politicians to do something stupid like impose price controls or prop up failing corporations. But not this one. Not if the president and the Congressional leadership can rouse themselves from their torpor. Not if they can bestir themselves to do something more than stand foursquare against "price gouging."
o Now is the time to demand that Congress passes a decent energy bill.
o Now is the chance to demand that we build some more oil refineries.
o Now is the chance to drill for oil in ANWR.
o Now is the chance to search for oil on the continental shelf off the west and east coasts.
o Now is the chance to rationalize the crazy quilt of gasolines blended for each individual city.
Of course the Democrats are demagoguing on energy. They demagogue on everything.
Some day, in a quieter, more reflective time, there will be an opportunity to conduct a scholarly study to determine whether the Democrats of the twenty-first century actually believed in anything other than temporary partisan advantage. But this is not that time.
Now is the time to call the Democrats' bluff on energy, not to mention border security, Iraq, and taxes. Is anyone paying attention? At the White House? Mr. President? Karl Rove? On Capitol Hill? Denny Hastert?
Nothing personal, you understand. It's just that when we read in Time that the White House's five point plan to save the Bush presidency doesnft include a bullet point for high gas prices, we begin to wonder if anyone is home.
Christopher Chantrill blogs at www.roadtothemiddleclass.com. His Road to the Middle Class is forthcoming.
500 gallons of gasoline in bottles not intended for flammable liquid storage in an area not designed for bulk fuel storage?
Not many folks get a chance to preview their Darwin Award nomination.
And since I'm now nominating you for a Darwin Award, you may be the first.
every game needs a loser. pubbies usually volunteer for this and forfeit in the name of bipartisanship or fear of offending illegal immigrants or environmentalist wackos.
On these threads, I have asked for aggressive leadership from the President in moving forward almost every idea mentioned in this article.
And, what do you know, within 2 threads, the Bush Bots come out and call you everything from a liberal democrat to a sleeper troll. Mind you, most of the time, they don't actually read the whole post.
I don't know when the Bush Bots are going to understand that the President has the golden opportunity. He doesn't seem to be doing anything...right now.
I can only hope that the new Chief of Staff and his reported plan has something to do with taking advantage of the leftist's vunerabilities on this issue.
Look, Bush didn't get us into this oil situation. Jimmah did. The leftists in Congress from late 60s to mid 90s have.
What we need is the President to speak as loudly and as often about our national energy policy as he has about the War on Terror and/or the War in Iraq.
We need the President to acknowledge that alternate fuels are part of the issue, but the bigger priority is establishing domestic oil supplies, so we N-E-V-E-R have to rely on any foreign power.
Saying that the President needs to show leadership and listing the ways in which he can do so isn't criticizing.
I suppose I'll waiting to see what happens over the next couple months. But, I don't think that I'm holding my breath.
When critial maintenance needs to be done, or there is an equipment failure, we immediately edge even closer to the zone where we cannot supply enough refined products for our needs.
This writer also said:"...there is nothing stopping any American with sufficient capital from building refineries right now..."
What a steaming pantload that is, because the envirowhackos have made it impossible to build. And they regard it as a victory...while they drive their hybrids and their giant SUV's.
Why do you include me on this reply?
sad but true
Z Those are my sentiments in a nutshell. It sickens me when I think of what this administration could have done with their opportunity to bury the democrats as a party. I fear for the future with the left wing of the rat party in full control. What would Reagan have done with the congress behind him?
Please don't confuse people with facts. Let them whine.
Lets hope we don't live next door to "al baby"
And this means what to you?
I hope that you do no live in an area where there is a lot of lighting!!!!!!
A decent energy bill needs to remove bureaucratic hurdles and require "environmental" laws to automatically expire in five years after enactment and require proven benefits before they can be renewed.
Now is the chance to demand that we build some more oil refineries.
Remove the restrictions and bureaucracy so that companies can build more refineries. The government should not get involved in their construction or operation.
Now is the chance to drill for oil in ANWR.
The real point is that there is no rational reason not to drill there. The restriction is there for purely political reasons. The "environmentalists" are purposfully working to limit supply and drive up costs to limit consumption.
Now is the chance to search for oil on the continental shelf off the west and east coasts.
Remove unreasonable restrictions to allow the free market to address the problem. There does need to be appropriate safeguards to prevent spills and accountability for making sure proper measures are taken.
Now is the chance to rationalize the crazy quilt of gasolines blended for each individual city.
I agree that the different requirements for different areas are wasteful and costly for little benefit. However, the federal government should not have the authority to prohibit state and local governments from placing requirements on fuel.
The lack of interest in standardizing these requirements between states and municipalities should make it clear that those involved in setting them are not interested in a cost effective solution. It's another way that the environmental lobby works behind the scenes to drive up prices.
The only way to fight that is to make the public aware of what is going on, and what it costs them. The public then needs to pressure their state governments to work together to provide a solution that is cost effective while still working to address real issues like high ozone levels in urban areas.
The problem with our energy policy is generally one of too much government interference. Big government almost always tries to create more regulations to fix the problems they created with too many regulations.
The best thing our federal government could do as an energy policy is to significantly reduce their interference in that industry.
State interference in that industry is also a significant issue. The best solution to that is to make sure the states and municipalities bear most of the burden for their own bad decisions. State governments need to not be able to blame things on the federal government so easily and need to accept accountability for their actions.
This will not make the extreme environmentalist lobby happy. Their agenda is not widely supported by the majority of Americans, and they can only force it on enough people through a strong central government which they can concentrate on influencing.
If they have to get real widespread support, they know they will fail.
Agreed 100%. Thanks for posting this...
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