Politics

How To Talk To A Liberal: Oil and Gas Prices

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I once got into a discussion on Facebook with a friend of mine from high school Untitledregarding the history of oil and gas prices.  He believes that “green” energy is the only way to become energy independent and that the U.S. is unfairly using more than it’s share of the world’s oil, citing the alleged fact that we produce 20% of the supply but use 80% of it.  This was my rather lengthy reply.

In 1973 the Nixon administration (yes a Republican) began over-regulating the production of oil in the U.S. making it necessary to increase foreign imports (up to 35% of U.S. consumption). In the same year, the U.S. sent military assistance to Israel who had been attacked by members of OPEC.  In retaliation OPEC placed an oil embargo on the U.S. and increased the price for other nations by 70%. Oil in the U.S. then had to be rationed to the people (you could only get gas at certain times, and never on Sundays).

Since then, more and more regulations have been put on U.S. production of oil starting with Carter’s MEOW initiative and creation of the Department of Energy, making it harder and harder to drill for domestic oil and causing us to be more and more dependent on foreign oil. This is not, as some would have us believe, because we are “running out of oil.” The U.S. is sitting on one of the largest oil reservoirs in the world, an estimated 2.3 trillion barrels (300 years) worth to be exact. It is current technology and excessive regulation that is preventing us from getting at it.

The 20% and 80% figures that the Obama used in his reelection speech are blatantly stretched considering that those figures only apply to current tapped reserves; they do not include the amount of oil that is not being drilled or used in the current economy. So yes the U.S. government is being selfish because we refuse to drill for our own oil and would rather drain the supplies of other nations instead.

Special thanks to: Buy and Hold, Antenna Group, and Kiplinger.

How To Talk To A Liberal: Big Government

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What in the world do government and mistletoe have in common? Actually, quite a lot. Mistletoe is a parasite that sucks nutrients out of its host tree–I should know with how much is in my backyard. Usually the tree is large enough to handle the loss of some of its nutrients. However when the mistletoe grows so large that it takes more than the host tree can provide, they both ultimately wither and die.

The same story is true with government. In this case, government is the parasite that sucks finances in the form of taxes out of the private sector–again I should know since I pay all of my own taxes. Healthy economies maintain a small government that they can afford to sustain. However, current administrations, from Greece to Italy to the United States, have rapidly expanded their governments at the expense of their economies. As we look in the case of ancient Rome, the outcome of bloated government is the same as that of the bloated mistletoe tree:  death.

Just look at the 2013 government shutdown. 83% of government was still up and running, but who came to the rescue of the other 17%? Of course it was the private sector. Private charities stepped up to fund military death benefits. The RNC offered to fund the World War II memorial for 30 days. Whenever the government needs or wants something, it always turns to the private sector for more and more and more taxes. I’d say it’s time to trim the government mistletoe so we can have a healthier economic tree.

The 25 Republican Senators That Voted For Cloture

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A vote in favor of cloture was a vote to cut off all debate on the House budget bill that would have defunded Obamacare. The following vote was to pass the bill providing the language to defund Obamacare was stripped from it. Cloture required 60 votes to pass, while passing the bill only require 51 votes. As we know the Democrats hold the majority in the Senate, but without Republican support they would not have the 60 votes needed for cloture.

By voting yes on cloture and no on stripping the language to defund out of the House budget bill, these senators ultimately sided with Harry Reid to provide him the ability to save Obamacare. In the process, they created the opportunity to lie to their constituents by saying that they voted for the bill to defund Obamacare, when in reality in the cloture vote that mattered these senators did the exact opposite. Bear these things in mind when next deciding who to vote for on your ballot.

Lamar Alexander (R-TN) reelection 2014 John Cornyn (R-TX) reelection 2014
Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) reelection 2016 Lindsey Graham (R-SC) reelection 2014
John Barrasso (R-WY) reelection 2018 John Hoeven (R-ND) reelection 2016
Roy Blunt (R-MO) reelection 2016 Johnny Isakson (R-GA) reelection 2016
John Boozman (R-AR) reelection 2016 Mike Johanns (R-NE) reelection 2014
Richard Burr (R-NC) reelection 2016 Ron Johnson (R-WI) reelection 2016
Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) reelection 2014 Mark Kirk (R-IL) reelection 2016
Jeff Chiesa (R-NJ) reelection 2018 John McCain (R-AZ) reelection 2016
Dan Coats (R-IN) reelection 2016 Mitch McConnell (R-KY) reelection 2014
Tom Coburn (R-OK) reelection 2016 Lisa Murkowksi (R-AK) reelection 2014
Thad Cochran (R-MS) reelection 2014 John Thune (R-SD) reelection 2016
Susan Collins (R-ME) reelection 2014 Roger Wicker (R-MS) reelection 2018
Bob Corker (R-TN) reelection 2018