President Obama is on a tour this week trying to convince the American people how wonderful his energy policy has been for us. Don’t be fooled. Even the Washington Post, a generally liberal paper, has given his speeches two “Pinocchio’s” for less than factual statements.
The Democratic Party has been against domestic drilling for years and our Senator, Tom Carper, has fully supported that party line. Now he is pushing wind energy subsidies for his political cronies here in Delaware. Wind generated power may someday be technologically feasible, but that day isn’t coming any time soon. In the meantime, we have the resources available to be self-sufficient and quit importing our oil from unstable and less than friendly countries around the world.
Kevin Wade has some good ideas for remedies to the energy crisis we find ourselves in, and is running to replace Senator Carper in this year’s election. He knows energy, and supports workable solutions. We need that in Washington. As an engineer, he has owned his own business for years that focused on creating safe and efficient oil drilling platforms around the world. Not only does he understand what it takes to succeed in a free market, but he is also prepared to deal with the issues facing our nation in the 21st century.
Our economy and our energy policy go hand in hand. More affordable energy means more jobs and more opportunity. The President’s green energy fantasies were supposed to create jobs and instead left taxpayers holding the bag for billions of dollars wasted by companies like Solyndra. I get all warm and fuzzy thinking about living in a world that runs on sun and wind, but realize that those daydreams are not reality. In the meantime, we send our hard-earned treasure to nations that want us to fail. It just doesn’t make sense.
In closing, I want to quote a fact Mr. Wade mentions in a recent campaign video. The tallest towers in the world are in the Middle East, but they are built with our money. The madness has to end.
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Federal Power Trips
Much has already been written about the overreach of the federal government and infringement on individual freedom of religion. I may write about that again, but today I’m thinking about the way our current federal officials are also steamrolling over state’s rights. We need to be aware of what they are doing if we have any hope of restoring our personal freedoms and we need to elect Senators, Congressmen and a President who will respect the limits of federal power.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has now directed the Justice department to interfere with the Texas legislature’s passage of a voter ID law. 37 other states already have laws that require some kind of voter verification in order to cast a ballot, and Texas lawmakers recently passed their own. It was supported by the Texas Attorney General, and signed into law by the Governor. States have the right under our constitution to do that sort of thing. The people elect representatives, and expect them to promote the state’s welfare.
Red herring arguments from the left abound on this issue. Some are saying it is unfair to the poor and minorities to expect them to show proof of identification to vote, even though they need it to buy a beer, or for that matter, walk into the Justice Department building in Washington, D.C. I heard a phone interview today where a Washington insider whined that because the law doesn’t address absentee ballots it has no legitimacy. His argument seemed to be that since the law didn’t cover every contingency, it shouldn’t be allowed to cover the area that the Texas legislators were most concerned with addressing.
Despite what Mr. Holder thinks, it is not the federal government’s job to interfere here. There is no evidence that Texas has been suppressing anyone’s right to vote. Claiming that the fed can interfere because of 100 year old history is ridiculous. Texas, and all of the other states, should be able to exercise their lawful right to insure a legitimate voting process without interference from federal authorities.
Washington has become bloated and consumed by an arrogant sense of power and control over our lives. We need to elect better representatives if we want a healthier, more constitutionally appropriate Federal government. I’m encouraged that there are people running for office around the country that have a greater vision. Kevin Wade here in Delaware is one of them. He is speaking to groups around our small state and his campaign for U.S. Senate is gaining momentum. I encourage my local readers to check him out. Your vote matters!
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has now directed the Justice department to interfere with the Texas legislature’s passage of a voter ID law. 37 other states already have laws that require some kind of voter verification in order to cast a ballot, and Texas lawmakers recently passed their own. It was supported by the Texas Attorney General, and signed into law by the Governor. States have the right under our constitution to do that sort of thing. The people elect representatives, and expect them to promote the state’s welfare.
Red herring arguments from the left abound on this issue. Some are saying it is unfair to the poor and minorities to expect them to show proof of identification to vote, even though they need it to buy a beer, or for that matter, walk into the Justice Department building in Washington, D.C. I heard a phone interview today where a Washington insider whined that because the law doesn’t address absentee ballots it has no legitimacy. His argument seemed to be that since the law didn’t cover every contingency, it shouldn’t be allowed to cover the area that the Texas legislators were most concerned with addressing.
Despite what Mr. Holder thinks, it is not the federal government’s job to interfere here. There is no evidence that Texas has been suppressing anyone’s right to vote. Claiming that the fed can interfere because of 100 year old history is ridiculous. Texas, and all of the other states, should be able to exercise their lawful right to insure a legitimate voting process without interference from federal authorities.
Washington has become bloated and consumed by an arrogant sense of power and control over our lives. We need to elect better representatives if we want a healthier, more constitutionally appropriate Federal government. I’m encouraged that there are people running for office around the country that have a greater vision. Kevin Wade here in Delaware is one of them. He is speaking to groups around our small state and his campaign for U.S. Senate is gaining momentum. I encourage my local readers to check him out. Your vote matters!
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
"Velvet Socialism"
The title of this post comes from an editorial by Marvin Olasky in the 3/10/12 issue of World magazine [link to it by clicking title above.] He describes velvet socialism as "governmental conformity.... in the name of providing equality" and reminds his readers that 100 years ago in this country there were over 1,000 elected officials who labeled themselves as Socialists. It was considered a good thing then, before we witnessed a century of horrors in its name through revolutions in Russia and China, Nazi rule in Germany, as well as Viet Nam, Korea, Cuba and Cambodia.
Socialism has a bad reputation now, so adherents of this system call themselves Progressives these days instead. But don't be fooled. Whatever name you use, a world view that believes government is better at controlling the economy to produce positive results instead of letting a free market operate will lead to oppression. The soft, or 'velvety' type of government coercion is just as economically destructive in the end, even without the violent loss of life that resulted from last century's revolutions.
A top-down government-controlled approach to economics, education, health care, or any other aspect of civil society eliminates initiative and competition. It is those last characteristics that lead to advances and improvements, not the complacency of a bureaucracy.
Our freedom to pursue happiness in this country is based on competition. Even the three branches of our government are designed to achieve a balance of powers by competing with one another. President Obama misses this fact, as evidenced by his willingness to ignore the legislative branch through his far reaching executive orders.
Mr. Olasky explains this far better than I have here. I hope all Americans will think through the big issues at stake, and not get lost in simply fighting the individual battles over specific pieces of legislation. It is our overall belief in the purpose and nature of government that will determine what kind of century we have ahead of us. Let us elect representatives at all levels of government that share our convictions.
Socialism has a bad reputation now, so adherents of this system call themselves Progressives these days instead. But don't be fooled. Whatever name you use, a world view that believes government is better at controlling the economy to produce positive results instead of letting a free market operate will lead to oppression. The soft, or 'velvety' type of government coercion is just as economically destructive in the end, even without the violent loss of life that resulted from last century's revolutions.
A top-down government-controlled approach to economics, education, health care, or any other aspect of civil society eliminates initiative and competition. It is those last characteristics that lead to advances and improvements, not the complacency of a bureaucracy.
Our freedom to pursue happiness in this country is based on competition. Even the three branches of our government are designed to achieve a balance of powers by competing with one another. President Obama misses this fact, as evidenced by his willingness to ignore the legislative branch through his far reaching executive orders.
Mr. Olasky explains this far better than I have here. I hope all Americans will think through the big issues at stake, and not get lost in simply fighting the individual battles over specific pieces of legislation. It is our overall belief in the purpose and nature of government that will determine what kind of century we have ahead of us. Let us elect representatives at all levels of government that share our convictions.
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