The people have spoken; loudly and clearly. There is now a roughly two-thirds majority across all political lines that want oil drilling and refining capacity increases to commence immediately. That two-thirds majority has had enough of the 'fluff' that passes for 'bipartisanship' in politics today. That two-thirds majority fills its tanks every week and is very cognizant of the sacrifices it has been forced to make while its elected representatives in Congress dither.
Demagoguery has run rampant...even more so than has come to be the usual level of demagoguery in Washington, D.C. We witness the daily back and forth of polite name-calling that passes for bipartisanship. I have yet to be able to understand why it is that conservatives almost always end up on the wrong end of the 'bipartisanship stick'. Why is it that a conservative-driven effort is demagogued by the liberals but a liberal-driven effort is almost always labeled a 'bipartisanship' effort?
Now we see an almost amazing display of partisan chutzpah with Nancy Pelosi's pronouncement yesterday that the Republican efforts to increase drilling are "a hoax" designed to take the peoples' minds off other Republican problems. Even the poorly-equipped Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, has softened his rhetoric in the face of public sentiment. But not the erstwhile Nancy Pelosi who is re-elected by her ultra-liberal San Francisco district by super majorities in the 70%+ range.
Nancy Pelosi will continue to be a member of Congress for so long as she wishes, and needn't give a whit about the will of the people...other than for the ultra-liberals in her home district. How are these 'reigns of terror' to be dealt with under our constitution? By the sacking of Nancy Pelosi as the Speaker of the House by the Democrats who elected her to that position. Even Steny Hoyer would seem good by comparison!
The House Dems are frightened to death by the power of Nancy Pelosi. So much so, in fact, that they willfully ignore their own constituents who are part of that two-thirds majority. Unless and until the other Democrat members of the House of Representatives feel the real passion of their constituents on the subject of oil drilling and refining capacity, nothing will happen to improve prices at the pump on a long-term basis. We have five of those people in Wisconsin. We also have two Democrat Senators who might just seek a meeting with Nancy Pelosi to express their concern...if they have any real concern about what you and I pay for our gasoline.
The all too short and simple explanation is this: they don't care about you and me except when we cast our votes. And, they have come to understand that they'd have to commit some horrific act in order to be defeated after serving two terms in office. They couldn't care less about you and me because they are beholden to Nancy Pelosi for their committee appointments and they know that she can influence their campaign funding situation come election time.
That is another thing that is problematic. Our Members of the House of Representatives are in constant campaign mode. They are campaigning for re-election even before being sworn in for the next term to which they've just been elected or re-elected. The reverse problem exists with our Senators; they know that we have short memories so they can easily vote against our will for four years and then 'straighten up and fly right' for two years to get re-elected. It has happened so regularly that we could nearly do away with re-election and simply wait for retirement to open a seat.
Now, we are looking at the very real possibility that the President and both houses of Congress will be under Democrat control. We are looking at the very real possibility that both houses of Congress will also be 'veto proof' if the Democrats sweep as they suspect they will.
This seems to me to be too great a price to pay for the reminder that we shouldn't ever be so silly as to permit this to occur. But...it seems we never learn. It seems we love to be taught the same lesson over and over again. It must be akin to our need to push on a sore spot or bite down on the tooth that aches.
