True North

I've been critical of the GOP ever since the midterm election debacle. I've been especially critical of the RNC because they've undercut true conservatives while promoting squishy moderates. It seems like the RNC has specialized promiting CW Republicans instead of lining up behind solutions-oriented, outside-the-box-thinking conservatives.

This morning, I read Fred Barnes' depressing column titled "The Colorado Model". I wasn't depressed because he wrote about the Democrats' plan to win Colorado on all levels. It was depressing to hear Barnes talking like there wasn't anything we could do to stop the anti-GOP trend.

I won't tolerate that type of defeatism. That's why I'd fire every Beltway-based GOP strategist. That's why I'm ignoring every defeatist, process-oriented Beltway GOP pundit from this day forward. If these pundits and strategists want to whine about things instead of figuring out solutions to the biggest problems of the day, especially high gas prices, then they're part of the problem. PERIOD.

That's why I've been impressed with the House Republicans. I've participated in 2 blogger conference calls on energy recently. Organized by my representative Michele Bachmann, they've focused on increasing oil production. That's a solution that the public understands and agrees with.

What's more is that they're dispelling the myth that "We can't drill our way out of this crisis." They're also dispelling the myths that drilling won't drop prices and that it'll take forever to get the oil online.

Whether it's Michele Bachmann, John Peterson, Eric Cantor, Phil Gingrey or Roy Blunt, the House GOP is staying on this important battlefield and they're defeating the Democrats on the field of ideas. They're exposing the factual inaccuracies in the Democrats' statements.

The result is that Democrats are starting to cave on drilling. Yesterday, I posted about how House Democrats are now willing to drill in Alaska. When I first heard about this news, I figured that there had to be a poison pill codified into the bill or that there was another catch. I was right. I don't know that there's a poison pill in the bill but there is a catch. Democrats are willing to open upsome leases within the Brooks Range. That's at least 250 miles away from the Costal Plain area in ANWR, which is the home of a huge known oil and natural gass reserve.

Minority Leader Boehner will soon be leading a delegation of GOP freshmen to ANWR:

Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) will lead a delegation of Republicans to Denver and Alaska next week to promote the use of U.S. resources and new technology to relieve the country's energy crisis, according to sources familiar with the trip.

Freshmen Republican Reps. Michele Bachmann (Minn.), Gus Bilirakis (Fla.), Mary Fallin (Okla.), Dean Heller (Nev.), Jim Jordan (Ohio), Doug Lamborn (Colo.), Bob Latta (Ohio), Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), Steve Scalise (La.) and Adrian Smith (Neb.) will leave with Boehner on July 18 for Golden, Colo., where they will tour the National Renewable Energy Lab.

The group will then fly to Alaska, stopping at Prudhoe Bay and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), and finally visiting the town of Kaktovik before returning to Washington on July 21.

In other words, they're looking for energy solutions that aren't based on the environmentalists' wish list. They aren't playing Washington's games. Instead, they listened to the people and found tht high gas prices were the most important issue on their minds, then formulated a plan for solving those high prices.

What we found out was that we finally had an issue that put Democrats on the defensive. In fact, because the House GOP fought back, we found out that the Democrats' position was completely indefensible.

The day after the midterm election defeat, I wrote a post titled Moving Forward, Part I, in which I said this:

We need to pick some fights on the most important issues of the day.

Frankly, the GOP hasn't picked many fights until recently. Now the House is stepping forward and essentially saying "No More!!!" Now that they're standing steadfast, their Senate colleagues are starting the pushback, too. This morning, Scott Johnson posted this John Cornyn op-ed:

After reading John Hinderaker's post on Friday about lack of Democratic leadership on energy, I can report that the view looks about the same from my Senate office. Nancy Pelosi promised an effective new energy plan before the 2006 election; that's about 809 days ago and we're still waiting. They're now postponing votes because some Democrats fear reality has finally set in and Congress may actually approve more domestic exploration for new energy.

We've put ourselves in an irrational box. We've put 85 percent of our prime energy exploration lands off-limits. The U.S. is the only country in the world that refuses to develop its own natural resources. With a growing worldwide demand for energy, we're willing to enrich foreign governments, some of which wish us harm, instead of helping ourselves.

The U.S. is well on the way toward transitioning away from over-reliance on fossil fuels. I'm for pursuing every source of energy out there, solar, nuclear, clean coal, wind, biofuels, hydrogen, shale. We need it all. But we've built up an infrastructure over 100 years that must be relied upon as we make the change to renewable sources. Congress has to get out of the way and allow the U.S. to develop its resources for that infrastructure, or we're headed towards economic catastrophe.

As John notes, a number of Democratic officeholders have heard from their constituents, and they want to vote to expand energy exploration. But their leadership is making sure they cannot. You can feel the Democratic solidarity on this fragmenting. One of two scenarios is likely. Either the leadership wakes up and allows expanded development, in Alaska, outer continental shelf, shale, or I suspect Republicans are going to do a great deal better in this fall's elections than most pundits now assume.

I'm staging an "Energy Independence Days" discussion this week on my Web site. I will be joined by Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, former Speaker Newt Gingrich and others who see clearly the need to produce more domestic energy and reduce our reliance on foreign sources. You know I am a long time and enthusiastic Power Line fan, and it's an honor to communicate with your readers. I hope many of you will join me at JohnCornyn.com this coming week, and share your thoughts on our energy problem.

Pay particularly close attention to this sentence:

Either the leadership wakes up and allows expanded development, in Alaska, outer continental shelf, shale, or I suspect Republicans are going to do a great deal better in this fall's elections than most pundits now assume.

I totally agree with Sen. Cornyn on that. People are dying for solutions, especially on gas prices. I'll bet the ranch that Sen. Cornyn's "Energy Independence Days" discussion will drive a ton of traffic to his website. I'll also bet the ranch that that discussion will get activists pumped and ready to run through walls for the GOP.

I'm not a defeatist nor will I ever consider that option. The time is upon us that each of us decides on whether we'll participate in defeatism or if we'll participate in part of the solution. Knowing that true Reaganite conservatism is solutions-based, I think that it's entirely possible to change the dynamics of this election season and to shock the world.

I've always believed that conservatism was a the most powerful political force in the universe. I haven't strayed from that belief. In fact, I refuse to stray from that belief. I'm just looking for more people to join the army of activists that are already working hard.

So consider this my invitation to anyone out there who's solutions-driven and who wants to be part of the solution. That's the decision facing each of us.

Comments welcome at LFR.