As you can see by a run of recent comments to this website, the blogger known as “ShoreThings” and I have had a running battle of words over the solution to our domestic energy issue. (Okay, maybe “battle” is a strong word – how about disagreement?) Anyway, I got this interesting e-mail from Dave Ryan at American Solutions and I thought I’d share part of it with you.
As you know, poll after poll shows that we are winning the argument about how to lower gas and diesel prices and develop more American energy now.
But the even bigger news is that the anti-energy elites are desperately worried. They are not only criticizing us, but they are admitting that they are losing the argument.
And friends, that’s big. In fact, considering the source, that’s huge.
Recently, liberal group MoveOn.org in an email to their supporters sounded dejected. They wrote “Here’s the truth: Right now, progressives are losing this argument.”
That can mean only one thing – WE ARE WINNING THIS ARGUMENT!
In the energy debate, common sense is winning and it’s got the anti-energy elites rattled because they offer no solutions to lowering gas and diesel prices.
American Solutions, on the other hand, has taken a bold stand and has been leading the “Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less” movement that has energized millions of Americans around a positive solution. Because of your help and the help of more than a million others, today an overwhelming majority of Americans support opening up new areas for exploration and drilling of American oil and gas, including offshore.
Even though MoveOn.org admits we are winning, they won’t quit, and there is still more work to be done.
Congress has left for a 5-week vacation without doing anything to address the soaring cost of gas and diesel. This inaction is unacceptable to the American people, many of whom can’t afford a vacation this year. (All emphasis in original.)
Dave goes on to talk about a press conference held this morning with Newt Gingrich (the founder of American Solutions) taking time to join some of his former colleagues still occupying the Capitol despite Congress being in recess. I have that short video too.
By the way, while he’s not on a short list as far as I know, Congressman Putnam is a rising young star in the Republican Party and it’s not surprising they’ve put him out front on this issue. (Jindal/Putnam 2016?) But I digress. The ten or so holdovers who have remained in Washington during the recess deserve our support for standing up for what’s right.
And I don’t think these Republicans are against renewable energy, because those who truly think about the situation know that someday these alternatives will have their place, like coal supplanted wood in the mid-19th century and a few decades later oil and its derivitives supplanted coal. (A lot of old houses in my former neck of the woods still have the coal bins in their cellars, mine was one. But when we lived there we had a natural gas furnace heating the place.) Even John McCain has ideas on how to supplant the internal combustion engine (from his campaign website):
John McCain Will Propose A $300 Million Prize To Improve Battery Technology For Full Commercial Development Of Plug-In Hybrid And Fully Electric Automobiles. A $300 million prize should be awarded for the development of a battery package that has the size, capacity, cost and power to leapfrog the commercially available plug-in hybrids or electric cars. That battery should deliver a power source at 30 percent of the current costs. At $300 million, the prize is one dollar for every man, woman and child in this country – and a small price to pay for breaking our dependence on oil. (Emphasis in orginal.)
While I dislike the premise of the federal government being involved, it’s not a bad idea at all. If 3,000 of America’s best and brightest contributed $100,000 each to the cause, you could achieve the same goal.
My objection is against Democrats who, first of all, simply dismiss the oil industry out of hand and do as much as they can to limit what these companies do best – bring the energy that’s needed for a prosperous economy to those who use it. The other objection is their gaming the free market by overregulation, thus denying consumers all the choices which could be available to them.
A lot of political arguments come down not to philosophy, but to the means of achieving a common goal. I’m of the belief that ShoreThings wants to increase domestic energy production as I do, but we have a different manner of thinking about how to accomplish this goal. Right now, it appears the American people fall more in line with the solutions I favor than with his. And since we’ve tended to do things the liberal way more often than not over the last 70 years, perhaps it’s time for common sense to reign again.
I thought you might find this video of interest. I remember you were a fan of Duncan Hunter back when he made his presidential bid earlier in the season, so here he is on the current House GOP Energy Revolt. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnDoyrP5BpI