THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume X, Issue # 200, August 13, 2008
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
"NEW" ENERGY REFORM: SAME OLD POLITICS
By Christopher G. Adamo
CONGRESS, PARTISAN POLITICS, & U.S. ENERGY POLICY: REPUBLICAN POLITICAL OPPORTUNISTS IN THE U.S. SENATE
CAVE IN TO THE DEMOCRATS & SELL OUT GENUINE CONSERVATIVES & PRO-ENERGY REPUBLICANS -- THE PROPOSED "NEW
ENERGY REFORM ACT OF 2008" AS THE CLASSIC HODGEPODGE OF DEMOCRATIC PARTY LIBERAL POLICY OBJECTIVES, A BILL
INTERWOVEN THROUGHOUT WITH BOILERPLATE ENVIRONMENTALIST, LIBERAL LEFTIST TRADEMARKS SUCH AS HIGH
TAXES ON THE ENERGY PRODUCERS, GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIES FOR NON-VIABLE ENERGY "ALTERNATIVES," & ABOVE ALL,
REGULATIONS SUFFICIENT TO COMPLETELY STIFLE ANY REAL EXPLORATION & PRODUCTION OF NEW OIL & NATURAL GAS
RESOURCES
FULL STORY:
Once again, the “greater good” has been served inside the Beltway, “bipartisanship” has broken a stalemate, the rancor
over energy policy has ended and, as is always the case when such milestones are achieved, Conservative America has
been sold out. Somehow, Republicans never seem to figure out that when right and wrong attempt to find common
ground with each other, “right,” by design, will inevitably be the first casualty.
This latest effort involves a “Gang of Ten” U.S. Senators, five Republicans and five Democrats, who are promoting their
“New Energy Reform Act of 2008.” In truth it is anything but new, and, instead, represents the worst manifestation of
Wasington, D.C., “business as usual.” Even in the midst of his noble attempt to justify the deception to an
understandably skeptical Rush Limbaugh, Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss of Georgia inadvertently tipped his hand
by mentioning that the intrepid Senators felt compelled by their constituents to “quit their partisan bickering and come
together.”
In actuality, his statement revealed the real motivation behind such charades in Washington. His ultimate desire was
neither to see the energy problems properly addressed, nor to place his Democratic Party colleagues on the “hot seat,”
where they so richly deserve to be, as a result of their callous indifference to the plight of Americans suffering from rising
energy costs. Rather, Chambliss and the other nine Senators were merely attempting to make pretense of caring and
acting, all for the purpose of advancing their own political fortunes.
Senator Chambliss went on to justify his duplicity by pointing out that, unless Republicans capitulate and waffle,
Democrats will prevent any measure from going forward, and thus nothing significant will be accomplished.
So, in the minds of Senators Chambliss, Lindsay Graham (Republican - South Carolina) and the other three Republican
members of the “Gang of Ten,” a Democratic Party defined agenda, rife with its typical glut of pork and irrelevant federal
meddling, is preferable to any Conservative fight to offer real solutions. The latter would most certainly entail open
political combat, winners, and losers. And that clearly would not bolster the all-important harmony of the United States
Senate. Is it any wonder that the voters eventually conceded to such thinking back in 2006, when they put the Democrats
in control of the Congress?
Sadly, the Senate Republicans stood to gain a great deal politically from the energy argument, and, in particular, from the
Democrats’ unwillingness to accept any action on the situation, other than their standard “tax and regulate” approach,
which created the mess in the first place. Moreover, this would have been true, even if, for the moment, all they might be
able to show for their efforts was a list of those Democrats who stand in the way of a real solution. Now, in the aftermath
of the stunning cave-in by these Republican opportunists, pro-energy Republicans who will not support such
non-solutions are in danger of being marginalized and labeled as the real source of the problem.
Even a cursory examination of the “New Energy Reform Act” proves it to be the classic hodgepodge of Democratic Party
Liberal objectives. Interwoven throughout it are all the boilerplate Environmentalist and Liberal Leftist trademarks such as
taxes on the producers, subsidies for non-viable energy “alternatives,” and, above all, regulations sufficient to completely
stifle any real exploration and production of new oil and gas resources.
Yet, we should apparently be comforted that it contains just enough lip service, ostensibly promoting some highly
restricted offshore drilling, to give its conspirators their much desired cover when facing probing questions from critics.
Ultimately, this sorry episode may yield an unintended but beneficial consequence. It shows, in glaring terms, just what is
wrong inside Washington, and, in particular, within the “bipartisan” circles of the Republican Party. Thus, it points to how
to remedy the situation. “Republicans” who view their Democratic Party counterparts not as an opposition, but, instead,
accept them and their ideology on an equal basis, will never be able to promote a political agenda, except one that is some
version of that which the Democrats originally fabricated.
In other words, Liberalism, in one form or another, will always be the governing standard, with Republican influence only
amounting to a minor “fine tuning” of the latest abysmal scheme offered and advanced by the political Left. The five
Republican Senators, who collaborated in this travesty (and despite the former characterizations of some as ardent
“Conservatives”), are revealing to traditional America that even in their minds, the divide in Washington is not between
Right and Left, but between the governing elites and the “peasantry,” which is how they obviously regard the rest of us.
Meanwhile, in the opposite wing of the U.S. Capitol, Republicans in the House of Representatives are showing how the
current political battle needs to be fought. Upon the congressional recess, when the ruling Democratic Party members
departed the premises, while having made no real attempts to solve the energy crisis, a dedicated contingent of
Republicans remained on the House floor to daily demand that Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi call the
Congress back into session to deal with the issue.
Of course, Pelosi has no intention of doing so, since any truly effective measure would spotlight the ability of
Republicans to lead on this issue, while painting Democratic Party stonewalling and environmentalist hysteria in a very bad
light. Thus, Pelosi hoped to get out of town before the issue could be brought to the forefront. And, had the House
Republicans merely sought “common ground” and collegiality, as did some of their Senate counterparts, the Speaker and
chief Democratic Party leader might well have succeeded in her ruse.
Now however, she is daily being forced to contend with the non-compliant Republicans who are engaged in a “tag team”
vigil, publicly proclaiming that she and her party are unwilling to put the interests of the people above the political power
struggles of the day. As partisan Democrats, Pelosi and her minions know they cannot win such an engagement. So the
excuses and obfuscations will continue, though they ring increasingly hollow and intellectually vacant.
It is regrettable that Senate Majority Leader and Democratic Party floor leader Harry Reid is, once again, getting a pass.
But it is an outrage that he does so with the collaboration of five “Republicans,” and their collective D.C. insider mindset.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
American Politics & Political Competition:
Elections, PACs, & Political Parties
American Government & the U.S. Congress
The American Political System:
Politics & Government in the U.S.A.
Political Environmentalism Versus Human Progress & Prosperity:
Policy Issues Relating to Energy, Environment,
& Natural Resources
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
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Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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