Nationwide skyrocketing of gas prices and energy shortages would have been unthinkable just ten years ago, even after major disasters (yes, we did have them before Bush caused global warming). Gas didn't even go up like this during the first Persian Gulf War or the Iraq War. But it has taken us this long, perhaps in the 30 years since we built our last refinery, to expose the folly of an energy policy driven by Leftist, anti-capitalist extremists.
We have been vulnerable to energy problems for some time now, with our unwillingness to drill for oil, our unwillingness to build more oil refineries, and our unwillingness to build more power stations. It hasn’t been an unwillingness on the part of American business, but the fault of our bloated, bureaucratic, anti-business government that makes such ventures unattractive to the private sector. And because of it, we’ve seen energy shortages and blackouts in the great state of California, electrical grid deficiencies in the northeast, and now a regional national disaster knocks the whole nation for a loop. Yes, the rot has been there for some time, and the veneer of normality is now so thin that the problem is becoming evident to us all.
I think it was the late economist Larry Burkett who said something to the effect that only wealthy nations can afford to strangle themselves. Nations that aren’t nearly as affluent as we are cannot afford to burden themselves with a bunch of Leftist drivel—they are too busy just trying to survive. Meanwhile, Americas gutless, brainless government has listened to a bunch of juvenile, Marxist utopians and has sandbagged the engine of American progress.
During the past several decades, our power and wealth have made it possible to weigh ourselves down with the most wasteful and self-destructive mass of regulations in human history. We have listened to the environmental wackos so long that we have hopelessly entangled our businesses and our government in an avalanche of regulations which are practically impossible to fully comply with. We have bowed to the animal rights nuts so long that we would allow little critters and varmints to stand in the way of human progress, security and prosperity, preventing us from drilling for oil, lest we harm a single field mouse or blade of grass. We have listened to the sci-fi-geeks-run-amok so that we are too afraid to promote energy independence and industrial progress, lest we contribute to the holy grail of environmental lunatics: global warming (we can’t make it rain, but human behavior can make the whole planet warm up).
After the disaster of 911, President Bush realized America had gone too long with its head stuck in the sand, ignoring reality and hoping the bad guys would just go away. He declared war on the foreign enemies of America and launched an offensive to protect our security and well being. Bush declared that America was no longer content to just sit and wait for the next attack—we were going to take the fight to the enemy so that he would have no power to hurt us.
Now, after the recent hurricanes have exposed our energy vulnerability, just as 911 exposed our security vulnerability, Bush has the opportunity to open a second front for protecting America. Just as he launched an effort to ensure America's military security, he now needs to launch an effort to ensure America's energy security and way of life.
Before the Leftist hysterics claim I’m advocating violence against them, let me be clear in that by declaring war on the Left’s attempt to undermine America, no force is required at all. Instead, Bush and the rest of thinking Americans need only ignore their mindless prattle and do what must be done. Just as adults must sometimes simply ignore a bratty, immature child and their incessant whining, so the grownups in the U.S. will just have to close their ears to all the doomsday predictions and get the job done.
However, despite how obvious the problem is to everyone, the Right must be prepared for opposition. Just as Bush has been vilified for waging war against America's foreign enemies, he will be vilified for waging war against America's domestic enemies: those environmental extremists who have long abandoned common sense for doomsday hysteria.
It has always been easier to evoke emotion than thought, and that is the Lefts greatest weapon. They can quickly whip out some statement which engenders an emotional response, whereas the Right must fight on the battleground of the mind. As any teacher or parent will tell you, it is much harder to get someone to think than it is to get them to feel.
There is also a spiritual component on the side of Leftists. It is the nature of man to take the easy road, more specifically, the road which takes him away from acknowledging God's authority. Throughout history, man has found it easier to make himself subservient to created idols than to the Creator of all things, Himself. Today's world is dominated by people who are filled with awe at our planet, yet show no regard for the One who made it. They may very well be some of the same ones we were warned about in Romans 1:25, who worship and serve created things rather than the creator.
The stakes are high in the war on terrorism.: if we pull out and put our heads back in the sand as the Cindy Sheehan brigade would have us do, we risk becoming the target for every tin pot dictator and America-hater in the world (much like we were in the 70s under Jimmy Carter). The stakes are at least as high in the much-needed war on environmental extremism: if we continue on the road of senseless self-strangulation, we risk becoming a third-world nation with a third-world lifestyle, without the economic means to support the military which keeps us free and safe.
Will Bush have the strength and moral certainty to do what must be done for our energy policy, after the beating he’s been given on terrorism by the Leftist media and the Peace Pimps? That remains to be seen. In order to answer that question, perhaps we need to know if good ole common sense, flag-waving Americans are willing to speak out against the environmental loonies and support what must be done.
Can we really afford this silliness anymore?
dakotavoice.com |
