Welcome to today’s episode of the Conservatives’ Guide to American Politics. In California, the average price for regular grade gas is four dollars and eighteen cents per gallon. That is against a national average of two dollars and sixty-four cents per gallon. A year ago, the national average was just under three bucks a gallon. However, today’s episode is not about gas prices, but has gas prices impacted behavior?

When then-Senator Obama was running for office, he campaigned on the idea of ‘causing the price for burning fossil fuels to skyrocket.’ He celebrated the behavior changes $10 a gallon gasoline would cause, and the liberal elite media cheered. Increasing the cost of gas would force people out of their cars and into mass transit and produce cleaner air and save the planet from global warming (later in the campaign climate change). President Obama also sought to increase the cost of fuel oil to heat homes and openly wanted to crush the coal industry. All the while, the liberal media celebrated the ideas, championed the brilliance of the movie, and nominated him for Nobel prizes. Did it work?

We had six years of President Obama having complete control over the house and senate, and no-one can argue he didn’t do everything in his power to increase the price of energy…did it work? Are more people today using mass transit? Are fewer miles driven each year nationally? Did we stave off climate disaster?

NO, No, and no.

The campaign battle cry’s of 2007/2008 is pretty much the same as those of 2019. But our climate status did not improve even in the slightest during President Obama’s eight years in office. During that time, Senator Sanders, Vice-President Biden, and Senator Pocahanis (oops) Warren agreed with stopping oil pipelines, canceling oil drilling leases, and shuttering coal mines. They fought to increase the price of energy every American pays with the belief that doing so will save our planet from man-made calamity. If eight years were not enough to turn the tide, then how long do they really want to control 15 trillion dollars in economic power?

“The science is settled.” Or so they say. Just this week, in the Coeur d’Alene Press, a group of liberals purchased a full-page ad challenging the Idaho political leaders to save the planet by signing up for the Green New Deal. Another program, more economic devotion to battling climate change, and lots more restrictions on American civil liberties…all in the name of science.

The big idea President Obama had was to restrict oil drilling. If they could stop the resource from being pulled from the ground, the laws of supply and demand would drive up the price and force Americans to decrease consumption…that is the theory. Until President Trump took office, for nearly 30 years, our nation depended on oil shipments from countries who hate America. Let’s look at history for some tips on that strategy. 1939, to curb the Japanese effort to support Nazi Germany’s war efforts, we limited access to oil. In response, they attacked America. The strategy of limiting oil access is time and again proven to be a war starter. Putting that aside for a moment, how is being held hostage by countries who hate America going to save our climate? American has less than 5% of the world’s population; how is that small of a percentage of the world population going to make a difference in the world’s climate?  

I should not be flippant with the reference. Those who make this argument point out America produces the most significant amount of greenhouse gasses because of our industrial might. That is false, but let’s assume for a moment it is true. America also feeds most of the world’s population. What happens to the world food chain if American doesn’t have the fuel to pull crops in front of the field? What would climate change mean to a world population that is starving to death? Now let’s get to the science…Nine times the earth has frozen solid…science shows glaciers were over two miles thick in the center of the United States. All that ice retreated millions of years before man ever started drilling for oil. How did the earth heat up 15,000 year’s ago at the end of the last mini ice age since man was not dominating the lands? The science shows volcanos, and sunspots caused the heating. Then volcano dormancy and sunspot temperament allowed tempers to drop again. In essence, climate change is real, but the idea that it is man-made is stupid. The problem is a large percentage of the American population buys into the man-made climate change BS and vote these morons into office. The morons pass crazy laws that drive up the price of energy, hurt the poor, and do nothing to save the planet.

Going too far? Let’s see if these track with current reality.

California is the most “woke” state in the USA. They are also the fifth largest economy in the world. So they have the smartest people on the planet and more money than all but four other countries. The average gas price is more than a dollar higher than the rest of the US, and oil drilling is more restricted in California than any other state. How is that working for the economy? Homeless camps stretch for as far as the eye can see. The poverty rate is climbing faster in California than anywhere else in America. This last week Northern California is now experiencing random rolling blackouts as the power company can not support the electrical demand of the state’s grid. Let’s not forget the policies that created conditions for the worse fire season in history.

In all fairness, necessity is the mother of invention, and thus, the idea the left is employing is not entirely out of line. The problem is the leaders who’ve been elected fail to consider the unintended consequences of their decisions. For example, drilling for oil is basically a clean operation. The typical drilling station takes about an acre of land with an oil field laying out several dozen oil drills for a standard extraction operation. Whereas a lithium mine is an open-pit mine that covers hundreds of acres and produces toxic sludge that kills all nature it touches. Never mind the oil-burning trucks, tractors, and trucks required to dig up the lithium and the coal-driven machines needed to process the ore into a useable product…The unintended consequences of pushing electric cars are decreasing tree foliage, increasing CO2 output, and contaminating the environment.

As conservatives, we’ve let this happen all in the name of getting along with the crazy’s. So long as they stay on their side of the wall, all is good…well, their side of the wall now includes the entire state of California, New York, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, New Mexico, New Jersey, etc.  How long will we stand by and let these failing liberal ideas take over our nation? Is it already too late?

The media is completely sold on the idea of the Green New Deal. A plan for saving the planet for certain death in just 11 short years. What exactly is the strategy behind the Green New Deal? Same ideas of old with a few new twists. Stop oil production, kill coal production, stop flying airplanes, stop eating meat…you know, the little things science agrees is best for our planet.

The plan is not about limiting oil drilling. That is just a natural resource man uses to serve our basic needs. One day we’ll find a different natural resource to use to meet our basic survival needs. The plan the left is really trying to implement is the destruction of capitalism and American ideals. The people they have put up to run for President of the United States and serve in Congress are Socialist at best, Communist at worst. What does that mean? Socialists take from those who do and gives it to those who don’t. Communists dictate how a business operates to meet a programed output. In a socialist’s mind, those who can not work are taken care of by those who do work. In a communist’s mind, those who can’t work are eliminated, and everyone else is forced into a job dictated by the state. We need only listen to the words spoken during the campaigns to know these people want to dictate how American’s behave. Is that the America you want to live in?

What does a Socialist America look like? That is a podcast topic for another day…A capitalist America requires every citizen to participate in our political process. Everyone must stand up against the notion that some ideas are not to be discussed in public. The new liberal ideas include censoring American’s. The most prominent companies in the world are limiting access to those who have views different from their own. Turned around, should a conservative business limit access to their service (say baking a cake or taking photos of a wedding), the state destroys the business. If the censorship follows the woke dogma, then the state celebrates the act. Is that the America you want?

Don’t let this election pass by without casting your vote. If America chooses to become a Socialist nation, then let it do so with the biggest voter turnout in our nation’s history. I believe the real results will be a landslide in favor of conservative principals, but it depends who the Republican party puts up for election. Over the last 20 years, Republicans have been growing government just as fast as the Democrats. We must listen to the candidate’s words and make sure they are celebrating American exceptionalism. Once elected, then we must continue to press our elected representatives to continue to serve the best interests of America.

The future of our nation will be determined on the first Tuesday of 2020. Will you be a participant or a spectator? The choice is yours.