It is now time for republicans to pounce on the idea of drilling for oil on Federal lands. According to a recent Gallup poll, American support for drilling in such areas has increased by 41% to 57%, which is a significant majority.This may be mainly due to the skyrocketing prices of oil, and the willingness of Americans to do something about it. And one of the major solutions floating around out there by many republicans has been drilling for oil on our own land, so that we can control our own supply and not rely so much on foreign oil.
Remember when the Democrats came into control of Congress, Nancy Pelosi said democrats had a plan to reduce the price of oil. Yet, since that day, the price of gas has gone up by over $1.06 per gallon.
According to Fred Barnes, "How high gas prices might work for Republicans," WeeklyStandard.com, Republicans have succeeded in selling this issue to Americans.
While dems aren't necessarily being blamed for high gas prices, they have done nothing to lower them. In fact, their only recent efforts in Congress was to impose new global warming caps, which would have raised the price of gas even more, which would have had a devastating impact on the economy, and enraged the public even more.
Barnes writes that, "Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell jumped on the gasoline issue. 'Why on earth are we considering a bill that would raise gas prices even higher than they already are?' he said. Reid's response was to halt consideration of the bill.
So here Nancy Pelosi said that global warming was such a dire issue that she rushed this bill to the floor, only to drop it a few days later. Democrats dropped this issue, despite environmentalist excitement for the bill, and despite polls showing that 75% of Americans want to fight global warming despite the cost.
Perhaps democrats are second guessing the polling data.
Thus, democrats have turned this Congress into a do nothing Congress, and this is a perfect chance to show the American people how ineffective the democrats are.It's time now for republicans to put the democrats on the defence. Let's put them on the spot and force them to defend why they would want to raise gas prices even more, and defend why they don't want to do something that would lower the price of oil.
Let's hold them accountable for their actions, or, more appropriately, their inactions. What do you say republicans in Congress? What do you say John McCain?
2 comments:
You know what? I actually started writing about what to do with gas prices this morning, but never finished the piece. I'll probably publish it tomorrow. It's similar to what you write, but it places blame elsewhere. Hopefully I'll finish it tomorrow before class.
I definitely agree that the Democrats overpromised and underdelivered. I think people will give them the benefit of the doubt though because the President is the one who holds most of the power, so if you have divided government and have to deal with veto threats all the time, it's understandable that nothing will get done.
I'm definitely interested in what you have to say about this. This post wasn't necessarily intended to toss blame, but to discuss stategy. I think the blame goes to the market: supply and demand.
Sometimes, though, I think Congress doing nothing is good. I see nothing wrong with doing nothing. I just thought if repubs ever wanted to sell the issue of drilling for oil on Fed land, now is the best time.
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