Blood for Oil

Congress has just passed a bill that calls for raising the CAFE Standards (Corporate Automobile Fuel Economy) by 40% by the year 2020.  This bill passed overwhelmingly and the President has already said he will sign it into law.

I didn’t realize that Congress now has the power to simply pass a bill that will change science.  How about a bill to turn water into Jack Daniels?  Or a law that requires a piece of string to have just one end?  Both of those laws would make just about as much sense as Congress mandating scientific advances that make it possible for automobiles to suddenly improve their economy by 40%.  This is a great bill for conspiracy theorists who contend that “Detroit” could have doubled our fuel economy years ago, but they have a deal with the big oil companies not to do so.

And whatever happened to the US Constitution?  Where in the Constitution is Congress given the power to enter into the marketplace and tell a seller how his product must perform?  It’s not there.  Yet this foolish bill was passed overwhelmingly by know-nothings who have no concept of how a free market works, by pie-in-the sky liberals, and by gutless conservatives who know better.  After all, who can be against better fuel economy?

What this bill really means is that Congress and the President have signed a death warrant for thousands of Americans who will die in small, unsafe cars.  This bill will hit the young and the poor the hardest since they are the ones who buy the most inexpensive cars.  Get ready for the great American shrinking car, because that is the car in your future. 

This is a typical liberal solution to a problem—run away from it.  Stick your head in the sand.  And if we must do something, let’s reduce individual freedom.  Let’s mandate what kind and size of cars Americans can drive.  We know better than they do, so instead of solving the energy problem, let’s make Americans give up more of
their freedom.

Where are the courageous congressmen and congresswomen who will address the energy issue head on?  It doesn’t take hand wringing, just common sense to get this problem behind us.  Windmills won’t do it.  Bio fuels won’t do it. 

The energy crisis can be solved by taking just four simple steps:

    1.  Convert oil and gas fired power plants to nuclear power plants.  
         Build more nuclear power plants to handle growing energy needs.

    2.  Allow offshore drilling of our vast, untapped reserves of oil and
         natural gas.

    3.  Open up Alaska (as well as Montana, Utah, and Wyoming) to
         exploration and drilling.

    4.  Expand and build more refining capacity.

By taking these four steps we can put our energy problems behind us in ten years.  Commonsense—where have you gone?