Friday, October 17, 2014

Washington Needs a Leadership Change for the Sake of Energy Independence



By Thomas Miller
Friday, September 17, 2014

Some new numbers out this week from Gallup show the tide is turning politically to the right. By a widening margin over the same poll taken in the spring, Americans say they now feel the GOP would do a better job than the Democrats in the top key voting areas: The economy, jobs, the situation with ISIS, Iraq and Syria, reducing the federal deficit and how the government is working overall. The Dems seem to have the upper hand on those social areas like climate change, abortion and equal pay for women.

I’m wondering out loud how much of this is really trust in the Republican Party, or the 7-year itch with President Obama. (We are hitting that mark, you know)

From our perspective at Powering America, we really do try to stay politically agnostic. What’s good for America is good, regardless of which side of the aisle it comes from. And vice-versa. As we’ve become more politically involved, and have had various congressmen, senators and state leaders on our show, one thing is clear: There is NO leadership. Harry Reid has a choke-hold on the United States Senate, and should be removed from office for political tactical treason. Barack Obama has done more damage by what he hasn’t done than what he has.

But there’s also something ominously off kilter on the other side as well. Granted, House Republicans have been strangled because any bill they conjure up goes to Harry Reid’s trash can. That’s frustrating for all of us. Our 238-year process of democratic government has been paralyzed since 2009. Think about it: You’re an elected official and all you can do is sit idly by and watch Executive Order after Executive Order to the extent that you can’t govern as you were elected to, wow. We don’t have words for that level of frustration. And voters are tired of it as well.

On the energy front, the biggest faux pas domestically is the Keystone XL pipeline. Not only that, but we have the chance, as a country, to restore our position in the world as the dominant world player in manufacturing, jobs, education, GDP, exports, everything. We need North American energy independence first, and that means strengthening our ties with Canada and Mexico. They don’t get it.

I wonder what Ronald Reagan would have done with the gift of the shale energy revolution. He would have loved it. I guarantee he would have used it to further strengthen America in ways he had no idea would have been possible. He would have seen it for what it was – and would have created that shining City on a Hill, powered by natural gas that was cheap and abundant for all Americans.

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