Goldberg (and Me) on Gas
I was going to write a post this morning about gasoline prices and the visible tizzy some Dems are throwing over the oil companies, but The Jonah Goldberg beat me to it.
Has anyone looked into the outrageous price of saffron? It is outrageously expensive. A single gas tank full of the stuff would cost millions. This criminal state of affairs has gone on for decades, if not millennia, and yet our leaders do nothing? Why is the DOJ ignoring this gouging of Americans too poor to afford the exotic flavoring of their rice? Where is Frist? Where is Hastert? Surely, we cannot leave this important issue to the market.
Mozactly.
I can’t immediately think of something you buy regularly that is meddled with more by the Federal Government than gasoline. There are so many government handprints all over the process that it looks the tight posterior of a Hooters’ girl.
Yet the price of gasoline remains remarkably low compared to other things you use regularly (saffron withstanding).
This isn’t really about what you’re paying for gas, though, not in Congress. The whole shrieking eels routine is about who controls what, and how much money we can get from it.
Don’t believe me? Think about this a moment. If Congress really wanted to drop gasoline prices, in both the short and long terms, they could do it tomorrow. All they have to do is to cut the gas tax in half. The effect on prices would be almost immediate.
Instead, what we’re getting is a bumble of pols trying to out-government the other. Goldberg’s summation of the Democratic position is succinct and right on the money.
We are horribly dependent on foreign oil. But we shouldn’t develop domestic oil or boost our refining capacity. We need a gas tax to wean Americans from foreign oil, but high gas prices are an outrage. We need alternative forms of energy, but we shouldn’t use nuclear power. We need renewable, sustainable energy, unless it spoils the view of rich liberal icons.
Got it?
Unfortunately, the Republicans aren’t exactly brimming with smarts either. They’re also looking at the Eeeeeeeeevil Oil Companies like Don Fanucci, hoping to wet their beaks. What they ought to be doing is using common sense and the courage they haven’t had any of in the last year. Instead, they’re playing the Politics of Pattycake with their Democratic colleagues.
Message to Bill Frist and Denny Hastert: Don Fanucci was a powerful man, but his scenes were only flashbacks.
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Category: Political Pontifications
