THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume X, Issue # 168, July 10, 2008
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
HOLDING LIBERALS ACCOUNTABLE FOR ENERGY WOES
By Christopher G. Adamo
HOW THE CURRENT PRICES OF DIESEL FUEL & GASOLINE ARE BEING ARTIFICALLY INFLATED, & WHO IS ULTIMATELY TO
BLAME FOR THE PROBLEM: THE ROLE OF OPEC IN CREATING THE PROBLEM -- THE ROLE OF THE ENVIRONMENTALIST
MOVEMENT & THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY, U.S.A., IN STRENGTHENING THE OPEC MONOPOLY & ITS ABILITY TO INFLATE THE
PRICE OF CRUDE OIL -- THE REFUSAL OF THE U.S. CONGRESS, CONTROLLED BY LIBERAL DEMOCRATS & POLITICAL
ENVIRONMENTALISTS, TO PERMIT, FACILITATE, & ENCOURAGE EXPANDED U.S. DOMESTIC OIL PRODUCTION -- THE NEED
FOR AMERICAN VOTERS TO RECOGNIZE THE CORRELATION BETWEEN LIBERAL POLICY-MAKING IN CONGRESS & THE
ESCALATING ENERGY & FOOD PRICES THAT ARE UNDERMINING THE U.S. ECONOMY
FULL STORY:
How long can Democrats in Congress hope to continue their anti-capitalist, anti-American agenda without facing
accountability from the voting public? Current indicators are that congressional Democrats intend to hold firm on their
signature issues, believing that the American public will simply not recognize the correlation between their actions of
recent years and the horrendous economic fallout that ensued as a direct result. And nowhere can this relationship be
seen more clearly than in the skyrocketing energy prices currently threatening to squeeze the economic vitality from
the American middle class.
Simple economics, the principles of which are becoming painfully apparent to every American who stops to fill up the
family sedan, dictate that, when disproportionate multitudes of customers have to compete for a limited supply of
fossil fuels, prices will rise. Thus, all of the efforts of Liberals and environmentalists to curtail the availability of the
world’s oil, specifically by hamstringing America’s ability to exploit its own natural resources, have only succeeded in
driving up the cost of those resources for all who want or need them.
Concurrently, Liberals are showcasing their disingenuousness by making two distinctly disparate claims regarding the
economic repercussions of their actions. On the one hand, they castigate market speculators as the ultimate culprits of
the current price spike. Yet, in the very next breath, they deny any possible immediate benefits from renewed
exploration, drilling, and production by Americans. Rather, they insist that any advantage from expanded supplies
would not be realized for at least a decade, as if those evil speculators could somehow remain totally blind to
consequent changes in the oil market until newly produced American gasoline is running in the streets.
Even a cursory examination of the many contributing economic factors reveals how the current prices of diesel fuel and
gasoline are being artificially inflated, and who is ultimately to blame for the problem. And the picture is not pretty.
From a worldwide perspective, the “free market” would currently yield a much lower price for a barrel of oil than recent
numbers which exceed one hundred forty dollars. This fact being well understood among oil producing nations,
particularly in the Middle East, where major oil producers banded together to form the infamous “Organization of
Petroleum Exporting Countries,” or OPEC.
Under its auspices, participating nations agree to non-market driven limitations in their oil production, thus ensuring
that any losses in profit from volume sales would be offset by increases in profit margins. This often tenuous agreement
has, at times, completely collapsed, specifically when a member-nation determines that it can reap significantly larger
profits from selling a much higher volume at a lower price. Yet, with worldwide demands as high as they currently are,
the accord remains stable.
In essence, an artificial “monopoly” has been created among the member-nations, whereby they can unilaterally
determine what the rest of the world will pay for its energy needs. But, for this monopoly to survive and thrive, it
requires the defacto cooperation of all other parties involved. Perhaps the most infuriating aspect of this situation is
that such “cooperation” is effectively coming from the Democratic Party controlled-Congress of the United States.
By stubbornly refusing any consideration of exploring, drilling, and thus expanding American oil production, U.S. House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Democrat - California) and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Democrat - Nevada), along
with their Liberal Democratic political machine in Washington, D.C., are effectively forcing the entire American oil
industry into the role of collaborating OPEC members. In a sinister sense, America is officially refusing to increase the
world production of oil, thus strengthening the OPEC monopoly and its ability to deliberately inflate the price of crude
oil.
It makes no difference when paying the bill at the gas pump that Pelosi, Reid, and their Liberal political cohorts are
claiming to do their deed for the sake of the planet, as opposed to the Arab nations who simply want to maximize profits.
The end product is the same. Americans are senselessly forced to crunch their personal budgets in order to keep the
family car rolling.
Elsewhere around the world, the predictable fallout from Liberal policy-making hits much harder. Food prices are soaring,
both as a result of higher costs to grow and transport edible crops, along with the insane practice of sapping food
supplies in order to use basic grains for the production of ethanol in a dubious scheme to supplement gas supplies.
Meanwhile, those most responsible for the current energy calamity offer only environmental sanctimony, entwined in the
hoax of “global warming,” as their justification.
However, some current signs indicate that the public may have grown wise to the environmentalist charade, which could
produce an enormous backlash in the coming elections, if those on the right side of the issue have the wherewithal to
properly portray the situation. The latest Rasmussen poll shows that public approval of Congress has dropped to the
unbelievable number of nine percent. This represents the first ever dip into single digits since such polls were taken.
In other words, the American public is no longer buying the flowery Liberal rhetoric and its empty promises of
environmental utopia that somehow always degenerates into higher costs, less freedom, and of course, larger tax
revenues for career politicians and their bureaucratic legions. Instead, the people of the heartland see an accelerating
decay of their lifestyles and diminishing prospects of a better future for their children.
Congressional Democrats are banking on their ability to deflect scrutiny on the cause and effect relationship of their
political alliances and resulting policies, along with the horrendous consequences reaped by middle America, at least
until after the November, 2008, elections. However, the public has begun to grasp the painful realities of the Democrats'
ruse, and is in no mood to accept any more of it.
America’s families suffer a loss of buying power, and American workers are barred from gainful employment among the
abundant natural resources that exist across this land and just off its shores. In response, U.S. Representative Maxine
Waters (Democrat - California) expresses her desire for the U.S. government to nationalize the oil industry, and
Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama reveals his contempt for middle America, which he believes is excessively
lavish in its lifestyles and use of energy resources.
Consequently, even at this late date, a bold and aggressive Republican campaign offensive can properly characterize this
issue along partisan lines, and put the Democrats to flight. On the other hand, if the average voter can successfully be
prevented from “connecting the dots” for the remainder of the election season, Democratic ranks in the House and Senate
will swell, and their hold on power will be cemented for the foreseeable future.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Political Environmentalism Versus Human Progress & Prosperity:
Policy Issues Relating to Energy, Environment,
& Natural Resources
American Politics & Political Competition:
Elections, PACs, & Political Parties
American Government & the U.S. Presidency:
Presidential Politics & National Leadership
The American Political System:
Politics & Government in the U.S.A.
The American Political & Cultural Left:
Liberals, Statists, Socialists, & Other Leftists
Political Economy -- Philosophies, Systems, & Public Policies:
Government, the Economy, & Economic Prosperity
Christopher G. Adamo is a freelance writer who lives in southeastern Wyoming and works in the field of industrial instrumentation.
He is actively involved in Wyoming's political process, serving as a delegate to successive Wyoming State Republican Conventions
and as a member of the Wyoming State Republican Central Committee. He has assisted Republican candidates for local and state
legislatures and for the United States Congress. His articles, which appear regularly in The Progressive Conservative, U.S.A.,
and on a number of other websites, reflect a major concern with the damage being done to Conservatism and Conservative causes by
the Liberal Leftist faction in the Republican Party as well as by the much larger and more powerful Liberal Leftist faction in the
Democratic Party. During the early and middle 1990s, Adamo was Editor of the Wyoming Christian Coalition's official news organ,
The Wyoming Christian.
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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,
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Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity