American Exceptionalism

In 1832, the French political observer published his seminal work, Democracy in America. Alexis de Tocqueville had been amazed at the success of such a young republic while Europe long governed by heavily centralized monarchies was struggling with social issues within the various nations. After an extensive tour throughout the United States, Tocqueville drew these conclusions.

America was an exceptional nation, and her exceptionalism was rooted in the decentralized structure of the American government with local governments having the power to resolve social issues at the local level. The second feature that drew Tocqueville’s attention was the active citizen participation as individuals and in groups, associations, and civil society. According to Tocqueville, while Europeans sat around and waited hopelessly for their governments to come to their rescue, the Americans were actively organizing and resolving their social problems without waiting on government. Whether these groups were faith based organizations, interest groups, or patriotic societies, they rolled up their sleeves and worked to solve the problems.

American exceptionalism mattered then, and it matters now. Our nation has always demonstrated the initiative, the gumption, the ingenuity, and the industrious energy to solve problems. This is America’s strength.

Our nation faces an energy crisis of tremendous magnitude. If we sit around and wait for government to solve this crisis, the crisis will only worsen. Our government has become more and more centralized, highly bureaucratized, and increasingly impersonal and impassive towards resolving our nation’s problems.

The American people can solve the energy crisis. We must demonstrate the will and resolve to use our uniqueness to rise to the occasion. We are a nation of diverse cultures and backgrounds, but that is our strength and not a detriment. We have been blessed with unbelievable resources and skills. It is time we acknowledge these gifts and use them to accomplish what previous generations have done: resolving social, economic, and political problems.

As a people we learned long ago that government is not the solution. Our active citizenry is what makes our nation great.

What are we waiting for?

The Simple Truth

Did you know that 18.6 cents of every gallon of gasoline that you purchase goes to the Congressional highway fund?

Do you know how Congress spends this money? Don’t assume it goes for highways. What your Congress uses the highway fund money collected from the sale of gasoline is for Congressional earmarks. For those unfamiliar with earmarks that is the most recent buzzword for pork barrel legislation projects. If you are not familiar with pork barrel, it is the “walking about” money or “I’ll pat you on your back if you’ll support me in my re-election” money. In simple terms, it is a Congressional slush fund.

Assume the average car owner in the US buys 10 gallons of gasoline a week. Then that person is contributing $1.86 to the Congressional highway fund a week. In one year that contribution would amount to $96.72. Some might say, so what?

Assume there are approximately 200,000,000 vehicles in the US being filled with at least 10 gallons of gasoline every week. The total of this contribution to the Congressional slush fund would be $19,344,000,000 (BILLION) in a year. Now that’s a lot of money! (These numbers are low-balled because the average truck drivers spend $3,000-$4,000 per week on gasoline.)

In the last four weeks, American consumers have demonstrated economics in its simplicity. If you noticed over this weekend, gas prices at the pump took a noticeable decrease. The cause of this decrease was not the result of any Congressional action. Instead, the decrease in price was the result of several factors, but mostly the result of American drivers curtailing their demand for gas. When the demand for a product decreases, it results in an increase in supply. When supply increases, the prices go down.

How did the members of the US Congress react to the decrease in demand for gas? Did they jump for joy and thank the American consumer for heeding their warning that gas consumption was leading to global warming? NO. Not a peep about global warming was heard. Instead, the Democratic members of Congress proposed a 10% increase in federal taxes on gasoline!!! Say it ain’t so!!! Why in the world would the Democrats in Congress want to raise taxes on gasoline and raise the price of gas at the pump????

The simple truth is this: a decrease in consumption of gasoline not only drove down the price at the pump, but it decreased the money in the Congressional slush fund!!! Panic hit the fan in Congress and the Democratic leadership, which controls all legislation in Congress, was beside itself. Democrats in Congress LOVE OIL, and the last thing they want to see is the price of oil decrease. Federal gasoline taxes provide them with their precious Congressional slush fund. With the slush fund, they can use the money to influence / persuade people to vote to keep the Democrats in power. What Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi demonstrated with the proposal of a federal gasoline tax increase was the audacity of infinite colossal greed and arrogance flaunted in the face of Americans struggling with increasing prices and the cost of living.


The number of estimated vehicles comes from Bureau of Transportation

Quixotry Jabberwocky

Listening to Barack Obama's hemming, hawing, pausing, and stammering for words during his Middle East press conferences is painful at best. Can the presumptive Democratic Presidential candidate not speak without a teleprompter? Apparently not!

Once you get past that difficult hurdle of listening to his blather, the next obstacle is trying to dissect his Chestertonian quixotry jabberwocky and warbling which leaves you wondering if Obama even has a clue as to what is spewing forth from his mouth. He certainly does not understand foreign policy. Clearly anti-US military, anti-capitalist, and anti-establishmentarian, Obama's responses to questions are equivalent to a person speaking in tongues---confused on issues, lacking in facts, uncertain in tone, and at times sounding defiant of anyone challenging his positions.

Condemning the Bush surge in Iraq as a failure, Obama's next sentence called for a US surge in Afghanistan. Even NBC's Andrea Mitchell deemed the US surge in Iraq a success and having worked for quite some time. Sen. Obama, if the surge didn't work in Iraq, what makes you think it will work in the more treacherous Afghanistan theater of war? The British suffered a humiliating defeat there in the 1800s, and Russia suffered a brutal defeat there in the 1980s. Refusing to acknowledge the US military success in Iraq reflects Obama's arrogance and inability to admit mistakes.

The question for Americans is "Who do you want making Commander-in-Chief decisions---a neophyte or a seasoned veteran?"

Obama Flunks Econ 101

When a presidential candidate states he is going to correct the economy, we are in serious TROUBLE. The economy is how we use our scarce resources to satisfy our needs and wants. In every economy since the Fall of Man, there are two problems: unemployment and inflation.

If Obama was referring to an economic crisis or sluggish economy, then the issues lie within those two problems. We've heard his views on the inflationary rising gas prices at the pump, "I'm just disappointed it happened so fast." Wait a minute, did Obama just endorse high gas prices?

If that remark startles you, wait till you hear what he wants to do with labor laws and the labor department. He wants more BIG GOVERNMENT. Hey, the BIG GOVERNMENT we already have CANNOT FUNCTION properly. The last thing we need is more government. Read for yourself why Fortune magazine economic writers are starting to scratch their heads. Obama Flunks

Energy Independence Day: July 4, 2008

The Democratic Controlled DO-NOTHING Congress has taken a vacation while the rest of us worry and struggle to keep paying the rising prices of gas at the pump that the incompetent Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said under her leadership WOULD NOT RISE. Well, Nancy, you lied to us. Are you a big friend of Chavez and the Iranians who refuse to ship oil and continue to price gouge us? Are you, Nancy, afraid to drill because we might find oil and burst your power bubble?

Watch this video and help declareENERGY INDEPENDENCE!