Herman

Cain

Read Herman's bio and previous columns

June 30, 2008

The People Cry Out for Domestic Oil Drilling, But Democrats are Deaf

A recent Consumer Reports survey as reported on the Fox News Channel indicated that 77 percent of Americans blame Congress for our oil price crisis. This implies that the Democrats’ attempt to shift the blame to oil executives, OPEC and oil speculators did not work.

Seventy-four percent of likely voters, according to a recent Zogby poll, support oil drilling in U.S. coastal waters. And yet the Democrats blocked legislation in the Senate and the House several times within the last few weeks.

Congressman Lynn Westmoreland has gotten 183 of his congressional colleagues to sign a simple petition that says, “I will vote to increase U.S. oil production to lower gas prices”, and as of June 28, 2008, not a single Democrat had signed the petition.

One has to say that the Democrats have shown incredible unity on ignoring public opinion, online petitions, congressional petitions, thousands of e-mails and phone calls for the sake of increasing their chokehold on power in the United States Congress.

Congratulations to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for keeping the Democratic ducks in line on the wrong side of the issue, while our dependence on foreign oil gradually picks the pockets of consumers and chokes the life out of our economy.

The list of lame excuses for their dogged position of not exploring the various resources we have right here at home would insult the intelligence of a fifth grader. Maybe they assume that most of their Democratic followers did not get past the fourth grade. I think not, but how else do you explain their deafness to the people?

This is another fine example of the “new direction” the Democrats promised in the 2006 election cycle – namely, backwards again.

Our days of cheap oil are over because Congress has allowed this country to get too far behind as a potential player in the world energy market.

Our energy situation will only get worse because the mass availability of alternative fuels and vehicles will take time to become commonplace.

The faceless enemy of capitalism and American energy independence has the Democrats in Congress right in the palm of its hands.

There is no single solution to our energy dilemma, and there is no one action by Congress or the president that will have an immediate effect on our pain at the pump. Inaction of the past has put us in our situation today, while today’s inaction by Congress will compound our energy problems of the future.

If the Democrats’ deafness to the people is pure political strategy, then it is a very dangerous strategy. Thomas Jefferson said, “The American people will not make a mistake, if they are given all the facts.”

The Democrats in Congress may be deaf to the people, but the people will not be blind to the facts forever.

Click here to talk to our writers and editors about this column and others in our discussion forum.

To e-mail feedback about this column, click here. If you enjoy this writer's work, please contact your local newspapers editors and ask them to carry it.