Going Green = $4 per Gallon

By Tom DeWeese

You hear it everywhere now. On the nightly news; in car ads; in government reports; at the super market. Instructions on how to “reduce your carbon footprint,” “save the planet” and “go green” are the new national mantras for behavior modification of our daily lives.

It’s interesting to note that as the nation jumps on the “go green” band wagon, more Americans are beginning to feel that the American Dream is passing them by. “Fewer Americans now than at any time in the last half century believe they’re moving forward in life,” concluded a recent report by the Pew Research Center. The report went on to say that today’s economic malaise caps a prolonged period during which the typical American lost ground as median household income fell and inflation increased. Smirked economy reporter David Lynch about the Pew report, “Suddenly, a nation that confidently had binged on McMansions, huge SUVs and flat-screened TVs faces a future of smaller dwellings, shrunken cars and painful credit card repayment.” Apparently, in Lynch’s world it is wrong for people to be successful, enjoying the fruits of their labor.

Lynch and the Pew report were dwelling on the economy. Funny how they seemed to fail to make the connection between the loss of American economic strength and the drive to “go green.” Is there a connection? You bet there is!

Going green (its real name is Sustainable Development) has led to Orwellian regulations resulting in the destruction of American businesses and the jobs that go with them, including manufacturing and industry; the locking away of American natural resources like oil, timber and minerals, forcing expensive imports; the near abolishment of private property, the bedrock of any economy’s source of wealth; and massive invasion of the farming industry to assure it is “sustainable,” including the mandated use of corn for the making of ethanol, leading to food shortages and higher prices.

Above all, the “go green” mindset has resulted in a refusal by political leaders and Congress to even consider anything but renewable fuels as a legitimate source of energy. Last year’s Energy bill, supposed to be the guideline for energy policy for coming years, literally made no mention of any kind of energy but alternative fuels like wind power, solar and ethanol. And the American people, buried under an avalanche of environmentally-correct propaganda, have blindly accepted the go green mantra, missing its connection to their economic woes.

At a time when the nation is facing an economic meltdown because of rising gas prices, oil use is ignored in the most important energy policy in the nation. Astonishing. As prices continue to rise, Washington’s response is “there’s nothing we can do.” President Bush says, “I wish I had a magic wand.” John McCain says “prices will continue to rise.” Barack Obama says “tax the oil companies,” as Congress begins a witch hunt on them, pledging the get to the bottom of their “excess profits.” Senator Barbara Boxer says “now is the best time to raise energy prices.” The Democrats want to ‘sue’ OPEC.

In all of this rhetoric, notice how NO action that includes the drilling of oil is considered. It’s taboo. Off the table. Suffer America, because the wisdom of the day is that oil is out. Alternatives are in. Go green! This, of course, completely ignores the fact that the U.S. uses oil for 85% of its energy needs.

Such policy is driven by the Sustainable Development lobby. Led by massively wealthy and powerful special interests like the Sierra Club, Audubon Society, the National Resources Defense Council and Earthjustice, to name a very few. With their dollars and lobbyists, they are forcing Congress to implement the policies outlined in the UN’s Agenda 21 soft law document. It pretends to be environmental policy, but is really a complete transformation of our society and economy to a top down control, leading toward global governance. The environment is just the excuse to convince unaware Americans to give up their liberties ‘to save the Earth’.

Global Warming has been the most convenient threat upon which all of the rhetoric has been based. What it is really leading to is the creation of a new economy based on trading carbon credits. Such policy is really nothing more than a massive redistribution of the wealth scheme designed to force industrial nations to make deals with less developed ones to trade for energy credits and get around severe energy use restrictions. It’s what Al Gore trades in order to allow him to claim he has a “zero carbon footprint” - even as he flies around the world in his jets and pays $2000 electric bills on his Tennessee mansion. In the end, the same emissions are released into the atmosphere, but money and power exchanges hands from the industrial nations to the less developed. Where is the protection for the environment? Of course there isn’t any.

The International Energy Agency just reported the need for an “energy revolution” in which it will cost $45 trillion to combat Global Warming. What bunk. Global Warming is quickly proving to be little more than a natural phenomenon, having virtually nothing to do with man. Science has now shown that human caused CO2 emissions amounts to no more than .017% - virtually insignificant. More and more scientists - by the thousands - are now expressing their skepticism about the whole Global Warming Theory. But that hasn’t stopped the “go green” mindset in Congress. Again, that’s because the real goal is a reorder of society and the economy - not the environment. The recently defeated Lieberman - Warner Climate Security Act was the latest attempt to “reorder” the American economy to the lie of Global Warming.

As more Americans are expressing frustration and outrage over rising fuel prices, demanding that American oil be drilled for Americans, the greens are in a panic to stop such blasphemy. They smugly dismiss the idea, saying such oil couldn’t possibly reach their gas tanks for five to ten years. ANWR, they say, has only enough oil to provide us about a year’s supply - hardly worth the effort.

The fact is, the only reason it would take that long to bring the oil to America’s gas tanks is because of the environmental regulations that are causing the problem in the first place. The United States is in an emergency situation. And that calls for emergency action by our leaders. This is the same country that, after being attacked at Pearl Harbor, transformed peacetime industry overnight into the greatest war machine in history. If we wanted to we could have that oil flowing within the year.

But it would take leadership from a president who knows how and cares to lead. President Bush doesn’t need a magic wand. He has the bully pulpit. He should go on national television and address the American people and tell them what he is going to do about this crisis. He should enlist the people to help him move Congress to immediately pass legislation to open up areas throughout the nation for drilling, from ANWR; to known reserves in the Rocky Mountains; to those off the coasts of Florida and California. He could demand that America begin drilling now. And the people would respond.

Finding alternative energy solutions is fine. It will certainly be a solution for the future. But a nation doesn’t destroy itself because of an as yet, unachievable dream. A nation’s leaders are supposed to look out for their own people and keep their nation strong.

Today’s cowardly political leaders are the Neville Chamberlains of our day, giving into the unceasing demands of the modern day Sustainablist Nazis. The Greens, in their lust for control over our lives, have proven they will stop at nothing, able to lie, cheat and steal to get their way. Obviously they have no regard for the poor, who are suffering the most in this “green” society. They are stomping on individual thoughts and actions if it is contrary to their vision of a green utopia.

Going green = Sustainable Development = a coming dark ages for all of mankind. Americans have only just begun to experience it and they are already feeling loss and a sense of hopelessness. $4 per gallon of gas is only the start of what is to come, unless we fight back now. We can start by throwing off the shackles and drilling American oil for Americans.

Tom DeWeese is the President of the American Policy Center and the Editor of The DeWeese Report. For more information regarding the American Policy Center visit their website at www.americanpolicycenter.org.