Thursday, July 3, 2008

If you're not already, it's time to get P.O.'d

There's a commonly-used term I typically avoid uttering. It's crass. But today I will use the words because it really is the only term my limited mind can come up with to describe my feelings about the fuel price crisis in America.

I'm pissed off.

It's time that all of America gets pissed off, too. It's time for every single frickin' member of Congress to insist that we start punching holes wherever oil is and take care of this crisis, ASAP.

Did anyone stop to think that OPEC's persistent reluctance to increase output is a soft form of terrorism? Isn't it fundamental Islam's goal to cripple the West economically and disrupt our way of life? While it's not as spectacular as planes flying into buildings or anthrax-laced letters being delivered to VIP's, it achieves the same goal: threatening our way of life.

For decades Congress was complacent. In fact, they were worse than complacent. They were complicit in creating our current dilemma by opposing new sources of oil and limiting our refining capacity. They listened too closely to environmentalists, and too little to those who said significant dependence on foreign oil would create massive problems in the future. The future has arrived. And now we expect those same politicians to actually fix the problem?

Here's what I say, and I should have thought about this months ago, because now it might be too late. Give politicians an ultimatum: lower gas prices or lose your seat. We get as many people as possible on board to commit to voting for non-incumbents if gas is still over $3 per gallon on election day. Furthermore, any politician who will sign the following pledge could avoid losing his seat:
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I (Congressmember) pledge to:

Support any and all efforts to begin drilling in ANWR ASAP.
Support lifting the ban on offshore drilling.
Allocate generous resources to develop oil shale reserves.
Require oil speculators to take delivery.
Require oil companies to use their oil claims or lose them.
Organize an oil-importing-nation consortium to play hardball against OPEC.
Offer massive incentives to car companies to increase efficiency.
Offer massive incentives to domestic oil companies to increase output.
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Our founding documents basically say that we, the people, are the Boss. And we haven't been acting like the Boss. We've been letting politicians think they have some sort of authority over us. They don't. They are to listen, represent, and act. If they can't solve (or avoid creating) the most pressing problems in America, they don't deserve the job, and it's time we start living that standard again.

If we want to keep our country we have to start demanding solutions. Right now we have hundreds of elected officials in Washington who are very good at explaining why they're not to blame for the crisis. I don't care if they're not to blame. We didn't send them to Washington to not get blamed for problems. We sent them to fix them, and they have failed.

1 comment:

  1. "Offer massive incentives to car companies to increase efficiency.
    Offer massive incentives to domestic oil companies to increase output."

    Wait a minute...I don't want a member of congress to pledge "Massive incentives" to anyone.
    That is something liberals would do.

    Where is your faith in the market? Besides, isn't $150/barrel oil already a "massive incentive to increase output"?

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