THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume IX, Issue # 58, April 5, 2007
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
OUT OF THE PAN, INTO THE FIRE
By Henry Lamb
THE "NEW DIRECTION" PROCLAIMED BY THE LEADERSHIP OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY MAJORITY IN THE U.S. CONGRESS:
MOVING THE U.S.A. & ITS ALLIES TOWARD DEFEAT IN IRAQ, THE U.S.A. TOWARD THE LARGEST FEDERAL TAX
INCREASE IN THE COUNTRY'S HISTORY, & THE ENTIRE WORLD TOWARD ECONOMIC CATASTROPHE, A DISASTER TO BE
CREATED BY SERVING THE IDEOLOGY & PUBLIC POLICY AGENDA OF POLITICAL ENVIRONMENTALISM & IMPOSING SEVERE
LIMITS ON THE USE OF ENERGY DERIVED FROM FOSSIL FUELS -- CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS, POLITICAL
ENVIRONMENTALISTS, GLOBAL-WARMING ALARMISTS, & THEIR GRAND DESIGN FOR A NEW DARK AGE
FULL STORY:
Republicans and other Conservatives had many reasons to be disappointed and upset with the Republican White House
and Congress. Porous borders and the steady march toward a North American Union are but a couple of the reasons
Republicans switched sides in 2006, or worse, stayed home.
Democrats, of course, driven by a wildly radical anti-war base, never missed an opportunity to bash the President, and
every other Republican in sight, for both real and manufactured faults. The result is a Democratic Party-controlled
Congress, hell-bent on regaining the White House in 2008. Nothing else seems to matter.
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi proudly admonished the President: “...step back; a new Congress is in town.”
As bad as former Republican supporters perceived the pre-election situation to be, it was far better than the current
situation, which is sure to get worse, much worse, unless a common sense tsunami sweeps across the country.
The “New Direction” that House Speaker Pelosi and U.S. Senate Majority Leader, Senator Harry Reid, proclaimed is
toward defeat in Iraq, toward the largest tax increase in the history of the United States, and toward enslaving, not only
America, but the rest of the world as well, in the heavy chains of “global warming” bondage.
Both Democratic Party-controlled houses of Congress defy common sense, by playing general and commander-in-chief, as
they ignore the funding needs of our military. In the supplemental military appropriation bill, they try to dictate how the
generals must conduct the war, and announce to the enemy the date the military will cut and run. To win a very slim
majority, the leadership had to add billions of dollars in pork to bribe enough Democratic votes. This is way beyond the
absence of common sense; it is plain stupid. These actions certainly display the “new Congress in town,” and it is
embarrassing, and shameful.
The Democrats' proposed federal budget calls for federal taxes to be increased 400 billion over five years, nearly twice the
1993, Democrat-sponsored,
largest tax increase in history, pushed to reality by Bill Clinton. The budget bill is a long way from enactment, but it
proposes increases on the poor as well as on the rich. Those who are now in the 10% bracket will pay 15%, and some five
million low-income people will be added to the tax rolls for the first time. Families in the $60,000 income range will see a tax
increase of nearly 60%. The marriage tax will be reinstated. And small businesses can expect to pay an additional $4,000
per year in taxes.
These blessings bestowed by “the new Congress in town” amount to a pittance compared to the atrocities that lie ahead as
the new direction heads toward solving the non-problem super-hyped as global warming.
Consider this: everyone agrees that the greenhouse effect makes it possible to live on this planet. The greenhouse effect
is created by what is called greenhouse gases that surround the earth. Think about the total of all greenhouse gases as a
stack of 100 dollar bills -- 100% of greenhouse gases. At least 95 of those dollar bills are water vapor. The remaining five
dollar bills consist of seven other greenhouse gases, one of which is carbon dioxide, which represents, perhaps, 71-cents
worth of the hundred dollars. Of this 71-cents, fossil fuel combustion is responsible for only 14% , or about 10-cents.
That’s right; all this hullabaloo about reducing carbon emissions is directed at .001% of the greenhouse gases. If all fossil
fuel emissions ended tomorrow, it would change greenhouse gases by one-one-thousandth of one percent. Now let’s see
what other blessings the Democrats want to bestow to effect this meaningless change.
For starters, the Democrats want to join the Kyoto Protocol, which stipulates that the United States will reduce its carbon
emissions by 7% below 1990 levels -- by 2012. This would require a reduction in energy use in the neighborhood of 60%.
Imagine: park your car 60% of the time; turn off your electricity 60% of the time. Unrealistic? You bet. Watch the
Democrats, nonetheless.
If you are as rich as Al Gore, don’t worry. Like him, you can live a “carbon-neutral” life by buying carbon credits. This is a
hot-air scheme that is supposed to pay people for not using energy, to offset the extravagant use of energy by Al Gore, and
many of his Hollywood friends.
Look too, for stricter mileage requirements from the new Congress in town. Cars will cost more, and be less safe. Watch the
Democrats press for even stricter emission reduction targets in the next phase of the Kyoto Protocol. This prohibition on
use of abundant fossil fuel will sentence to death thousands of poverty-stricken people in developing nations who need
electricity to refrigerate food and medicine, to pump and purify water, and fuel to power tractors to grow food.
The new Congress in town is certainly taking the nation in a new direction: they are taking the nation out of the Republican
frying pan, and into the Democratic fire.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
American Government & the U.S. Congress
American Politics & Political Competition:
Elections, PACS, & Political Parties
The American Political System:
Politics & Government in the U.S.A.
Policy Issues Relating to Energy, Environment,
& Natural Resources
Government, the Economy, & Economic Prosperity
Fiscal Policy: Taxation & Government Spending
The American Political & Cultural Left:
Liberals, Statists, Socialists, & Other Leftists
Liberalism Versus Conservatism in American Politics
-------------------------
POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY & POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES:
COMPETING SYSTEMS OF POLITICAL THOUGHT
Conservatism
Traditional Conservatism: Questions & Answers
Conservatism: Attitudes, Types, & Present Status
Constitutional Conservatism: American & British
Liberalism
Classical Liberalism: Intellectual Foundations
Classical Liberalism: Conservative Liberalism
Manchester Liberalism & Social Darwinism
Modern Social "Liberalism": Statist "Liberalism"
Radical & Totalitarian Ideologies
Radicalism, Utopianism, & Totalitarianism
Henry Lamb is Founder and Executive Vice President of the Environmental Conservation Organization (ECO), which was
established in 1988 to protect property rights from erosion by excessive environmental regulations. Lamb is also Chairman
of Sovereignty International, an organization opposed to world government and to the statist policy agendas of political
environmentalists, global-warming alarmists, and Leftwing Liberals.
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity