THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XII, Issue # 103, June 17, 2010
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
CONGRESS & THE WHITE HOUSE ARE USING THE GULF
OIL SPILL TO ADVANCE DUBIOUS ENERGY POLICIES
By Bp. Harry R. Jackson Jr., Niger Innis,
& Rev. Samuel Rodrigues
PUSHING FOR UNWISE CHANGES IN U.S. ENERGY & ECONOMIC POLICY: LEADING AMERICA OVER AN ENERGY &
ECONOMIC CLIFF: THE U.S. WHITE HOUSE & CONGRESS ARE TRYING TO USE THE GULF OF MEXICO OIL SPILL CRISIS
TO ADVANCE THEIR CAP-TAX-&-TRADE, ANTI-OIL, PRO-RENEWABLE ENERGY POLICY AGENDA -- WITHOUT REGARD TO
VITALLY IMPORTANT ENERGY, ECONOMIC & ENVIRONMENTAL FACTS OF LIFE, & WHILE IGNORING THE HIGH COSTS OF
CARBON TAXES & WIND & SOLAR POWER.
FULL STORY:
Business and capitalism are dirty words in many White House and "Progressive" [i.e., Liberal Leftist] circles, except in
two ways.
Business is good when it can be co-opted and manipulated by government to advance “Progressive” [statist or
socialist] energy, social, or economic agendas. And capitalism is a virtue in the sense of capitalizing on every crisis to
promote those agendas – through the guiding principle enshrined by Leftists like Saul Alinsky and Rahm Emanuel:
“Never let a crisis go to waste.”
Thus the tragic Gulf of Mexico oil spill has been incompetently handled by a White House, EPA and Corps of Engineers
unable even to make timely decisions about constructing sand berms to keep oil out of fragile estuaries. But the crisis is
being exploited brilliantly to justify policy initiatives like cap-tax-and-trade, EPA’s “endangerment” decree, more bans
on oil drilling, and mandatory fuel switching to higher priced options, most notably wind and solar power.
The economic facts of life simply don’t support this agenda.
U.S. Senator John Kerry asserts that China and India are spending billions to take our “clean energy” discoveries and
technologies, make the wind turbines and solar panels in Asia, and sell them back to us. He is right about what’s
happening, but completely wrong about why. The fault, dear Senator, is not in our stars (or in Asia), but in ourselves.
China and India pay their workers less than we do, especially in union shops so beloved by Progressives. They use
coal to generate cheap electricity to power their factories, while the U.S. White House, Environmental Protection
Agency, and Congress strive to tax and regulate American coal-fired power plants into oblivion. China mines its
abundant rare earth minerals (essential for wind turbine magnets and Prius batteries), whereas we have made hundreds
of millions of acres of superb mineral prospects off limits.
China and India are creating tens of thousands of jobs, financed by American taxpayers and consumers, while we tax
and over-regulate productive industries to pay for subsidies, tax breaks, and payrolls for wind and solar companies that
then must buy turbines and panels from China and India, because we cannot afford to make them here in the United
States.
That’s why 240 gigantic wind turbines being installed in Texas created 2,800 jobs – but 2,400 of them were in China. The
measly 400 we got were temporary jobs: truckers to haul components from the West Coast to West Texas, plus
installers, landscapers, lawyers, and bureaucrats. This is indeed a great Green Jobs Program – for the Chinese!
Is this the economic transformation that Senator Kerry wants to bring about? So, now we are going to be dependent on
the Middle East for oil – and on China and India for “alternative,” “renewable” energy?
Equally puzzling, the wind energy industry is exempted from Migratory Bird and Endangered Species laws. Oil
companies pay millions in fines, if a few hundred birds die in uncovered treatment ponds or are caught in the Gulf oil
spill. And they should. But wind turbine operators get a free pass, even when their “Cuisinarts of the air” slice and dice
thousands of eagles, hawks, falcons, geese, ducks, and bats annually.
Installing hundreds of thousands of turbines, and millions of acres of solar panels – to replace oil, gas, and coal
facilities – would be an unprecedented disaster for habitats, wildlife, and the environment.
Equally absurd, the 83% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions required by the House-passed climate bill and its
Kerry-Lieberman Senate counterpart would send America’s CO2 emissions back to levels last seen in 1870, when
population, energy use, and technology changes are taken into account. The price impacts on energy use, jobs,
working families, living standards, schools, and hospitals would be disastrous.
Meanwhile, emissions from China, India, and other emerging economic powerhouses would rapidly offset our nation’s
painful reductions, and global atmospheric CO2 levels would continue to rise. America is not an island.
This is not sustainable development. It is the unsustainable devolution of our country. It is economically and
environmentally ruinous. It is the Greecification of America.
The shift to the new Green Jobs Economy may sound good in the abstract. But a closer look at the current
transformative plan reveals substantial complications.
It will not generate wealth and is not the product of wealth creation. It is a manifest wealth transfer, from productive
and innovative segments of business and society to regulators, activists, companies, and energy systems that could
not survive without constant subsidies, tax breaks, and environmental “get out of jail free” cards.
The Green Jobs Economy would have expensive, intermittent wind and solar replace reliable, affordable
hydrocarbon-based electricity. On a large scale, that would severely impact working class families and small
businesses. It would impose a punitive, regressive tax on our nation’s most economically vulnerable citizens. It would
slow, if not obliterate, our nation’s chance for economic recovery and growth.
President Obama says he’s trying to figure out “whose ass to kick” over the Gulf oil spill and cleanup. He might want
to start with his own regulators, advisors and congressional allies, who are leading him and our country over an
energy and economic cliff.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Political Environmentalism Versus Human Progress & Prosperity:
Policy Issues Relating to Energy, Environment,
& Natural Resources
Political Economy -- Philosophies, Systems, & Public Policies:
Government, the Economy, & Economic Prosperity
Bishop Harry R. Jackson, Jr., is Founder and Chairman of the High Impact Leadership Coalition; Niger Innis is national
spokesman for the Congress of Racial Equality; Reverend Samuel Rodriguez is President of the National Hispanic
Christian Leadership Conference. They are the Co-chairs of the Affordable Power Alliance:
http://affordablepoweralliance.org/
Return to Top of Page
Go to the WEBSITE INDEX
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Public Issues & Political Controversies
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
Most Recent Articles
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Volume XII, 2010
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Subject Matter Highlights
Return to POLITICAL EDUCATION Homepage
CONTACT & ACCESS INFORMATION
This is not a commercial website. The sole purpose of the website is to share with interested persons information regarding civics,
civic and social education, political science, government, politics, law, constitutional law and history, public policy, and political
philosophy and history, as well as current and recent political developments, public issues, and political controversies.
POLITICAL EDUCATION, CONSERVATIVE ANALYSIS
POLITICS, SOCIETY, & THE SOVEREIGN STATE
Website of Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr.
Government, Politics, Public Policy, Legal Issues, Constitutional Law, Government & the Economy, Cultural Values, Foreign Affairs,
International Relations, Military Defense & National Security, Geopolitics, Terrorism & Homeland Security, American National Interests,
Political Systems & Processes, Political Institutions, Political Ideologies, & Political Philosophy
INDEX FOR THE ENTIRE WEBSITE
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Conservative & Free-Market Analysis of Government, Politics & Public Policy, Covering Political, Legal, Constitutional, Economic,
Cultural, Military, International, Strategic, & Geopolitical Issues
Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity