The John Galt of Energy - Where Are You?

Rich Lowry has an interesting article in the New York Post today called "Gesture Politics". It's as if McCain's only claim to the White House is his personal honor and Obama's is this notion of Change. But here we are half way through 2008 and America is ailing. The fuel for the motor of our country - OIL- is going out of sight both in cost to the consumer and keeping us potential hostages to foreign interests. Is this the state we want to be in for the next who knows how many years?

The most important issue facing the United States bar none, is ENERGY. And what are these two candidates doing? Fiddling while Rome burns. One candidate refuses to allow drilling on an empty wasteland (that 99.99% of the world's population will never see or care to see) or off our coasts of California and Florida and the other candidate doesn't have an energy policy that I know of - but he wants "change".

We do need change, we need a different type of politician from those that kow-tow to special interest groups and sell our country down the river for a few votes...We need a John Galt in politics - a true maverick from the current philosophy of standing for nothing but sacrifice . Someone who will shout loud and clear that Americans will no longer sacrifice their lives for the environment or allow our lives to be diminished.

We don't need or want a 3 month summer holiday from a gas tax of 18 cents per gallon. We need a coherent energy policy that is based on our self-interest both as individuals and as a nation not the interests of some deer or mosquito or misguided environmentalists!

"...If this is all very admirable, it's not a good fit for the public mood when rising energy prices mean that the average worker's wages are falling. For many families, this is a crisis. Besides a summer holiday from the federal gas tax that would save the average family an estimated $30 this summer, McCain's signature energy initiative - cap-and-trade - would increase energy prices. "

"Live by the gesture, die by the gesture. From there, his position on energy only gets messier. He opposes drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, another position undertaken largely for reasons of self-image - as the Teddy Roosevelt-style conservationist defending the country's big open spaces.

"At a town-hall meeting in Philadelphia, McCain said he could no sooner drill in ANWR than in the Grand Canyon. This is like comparing a roadside flea market to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Five million people a year visit the Grand Canyon, whereas 1,000 visit ANWR. Why would anyone want to go? It's a frozen wasteland during the winter and a mosquito-infested bog during the summer.

"McCain opposes drilling offshore Florida and California as well, saying that the states should be able to decide. But Alaska desperately wants to drill in ANWR. Its opinion apparently doesn't count. In an interview on the "Today" show, McCain ridiculously held out the prospect that advances in alternative energy might lower the price of gas by November. He's touting fanciful revolutionary breakthroughs within months without acknowledging the real technological advances that make it possible to drill with minimal environmental impact.

"McCain calls energy independence a national-security issue, but rules out obtaining here in the United States more of the most efficient form of energy readily available. By his own logic, the national-security candidate is putting aesthetic considerations - the sheer unsightliness of drilling, even though most people will never see it - over security." (READ)