The answer to high gas prices? Offshore drilling! Of course, when prices are high and we're running out of oil decades from now, without a plan to switch from oil to alternatives- well, carpe diem, live for today!
Republicans, for all the flack they get, are finally sticking up for the middle class. They stayed in Capitol Hill today even after Congress was shut down, not for photo ops or the very "political theater" they so denounce, but to stand up for our right to cheaper gas.
Our environment is going to get damaged one way or another, so why not drill now, when an election's coming up? Never mind that there's not a single economist who supports the idea, never mind that prices would go down only slightly, and only after a few years. We're stuck with high gas prices and we need a plan to fix it, even if it doesn't work. The Bush Administration called for the invasion of Iraq and look at how much lower oil prices have gone because of it.
What's surprising (or perhaps not) is how people are buying the Republicans' attempt at populism. Have they forgotten that oil prices have tripled since Bush came to office? Do they think that maybe there wouldn't be so much skepticism on global warming among talk radio and Fox News if maybe the GOP wasn't so cozy with big oil?
Instead, they'll call for offshore drilling because the oil companies simply haven't made enough. Let's face it, backing an oil company is a lot more profitable than backing an environmentalist group, and this time you kill two birds with one stone because you get to pretend you actually care about bringing gas prices down for consumer. But if they truly cared about bringing prices down, they would have already supported legislation on banning oil speculation.
Instead, it's the Democrats, acting like the much-despised hall monitor who tells you not to run in the hallways, who inexplicably believes that gas prices shouldn't go down for the struggling consumer. And if the voters get mad, what are the Dems going to say? A long essay on why offshore drilling isn't good for America in the long run?
But it's good enough to sacrifice our coastline if it's good enough to get McCain elected. That's the second coming of my favorite president, Teddy Roosevelt, for you.