Common Sense vs. The Environutters PDF Print E-mail
Written by Gary Gross   
Saturday, 26 July 2008 08:39

If you read between the lines, Michael Barone's latest column paints a gloomy picture for Democrats. Here's the opening paragraph of Mr. Barone's column:

Sometimes public opinion doesn't flow smoothly; it shifts sharply when a tipping point is reached. Case in point: gas prices. $3 a gallon gas didn't change anybody's mind about energy issues. $4 a gallon gas did. Evidently, the experience of paying more than $50 for a tankful gets people thinking we should stop worrying so much about global warming and the environmental dangers of oil wells on the outer continental shelf and in Alaska. Drill now! Nuke the caribou!

Though he closes the paragraph in dramatic tone, Mr. Barone is still onto something. He isn't advocating the nuking of caribou. Instead, he's pointing out that the American public won't tolerate the environutters' collaboration with Sen. Reid and Speaker Pelosi in locking up our energy supplies. The environutters' successful lobbying against drilling in ANWR and on the OCS will cost Democrats this election. King even came up with a great slogan to capitalize on the Democrats' alliance with the environutters:

Want to drill. Vote Republican.

A vote for a Democrat is a vote to keep Speark Pelosi and Sen. Reid in charge of granting votes for the environutters' agenda. A vote for a Republican is a vote for getting rid of Reid's and Pelosi's obstructionist leadership.

Public opinion, when it has changed as it has with $4 gas, has an effect. Environmental restrictionists like Al Gore have been selling a form of secular religion: We have sinned against Mother Earth, we must atone and suffer, there can be no argument, but we must have faith.

That was an appealing argument to many, perhaps most, Americans when gas was selling for $1.40. It has a much more limited appeal now that gas is selling for $4.10. The time may be coming when our lunatic environmental policies are swept away by a rising tide of common sense.

The choice this election is clear: Vote for the silliness and high prices of the environutters or vote for the lower prices brought on by a deluge of common sense.

Comments welcome at LFR.