With Democrats now calling for nationalizing oil refineries, the party has moved from merely liberal leaning to outright socialism. One of the first calls to socialize the energy business came from Rep. Maxine Waters in a barely literate diatribe during congressional hearings on energy costs ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRhBMGFmu5s ). The fact that this insane idea is taking hold among her colleagues shows just how far the party has left reality. Cuba is now moving toward market reforms while Democrats are following the lead of people like Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales.

Given that government is unable to run anything with efficiency, the thought that the economic engine of this country will be in the hands of people like Dennis Kucinich is terrifying. First of all nationalizing energy resources will not lower prices it will raise them. Government control will eliminate the profit motive and infuse politics and bureaucracy into every aspect of our energy policy leading to supply deficits, rationing and higher costs. Oil doesn?t just run cars and SUV?s, oil is necessary in every process of industry, food production, technology, etc., etc. The Democrat plan to nationalize energy is just a first step in a line of other government takeovers that they want to control such as healthcare, banking, salary caps on CEO?s, redistributing wealth and blocking new energy sources.

Even with gasoline prices at historic highs the Democrats still refuse to allow any option to become energy independent. The party rejects any options to explore or drill for new oil anywhere. They reject any nuclear power plants. They reject wind power in front of their own summer mansions (Ted Kennedy against a Cape Cod wind farm). They reject coal use. They reject the construction of any new refineries or coal fired energy plants causing older inefficient and dirtier plants to continue to pollute. The democrat party stands for absolutely nothing that will lead to more energy or energy independence. Instead the Democrat party promotes Ponzi type carbon trading schemes estimated to drive the cost of energy up by 40% and make Al Gore hundreds of millions of dollars.

Every country in the world is working to find new energy resources. Countries far ?greener? than ours are drilling offshore but somehow the US cannot use their resources. Countries would kill to have our natural resources. There are estimates of 18 billion barrels of provable oil on US land and water that we can barely touch. The argument that exploiting this oil would not lower prices is not a valid argument. Each year the US sends hundreds of billions of dollars overseas to pay for oil. By exploring for our own resources, we can keep more of that money at home and reduce the trade deficit. Having more of our own oil will mean that we are less susceptible to economic blackmail from our enemies. But instead of searching for our own oil, we are letting our enemies search in our own waters (China negotiating leases with Cuba). Does anyone believe that the Chinese will be better caretakers of waters near our shores than Chevron or Exxon? Barack Obama?s genius of a plan is a Billion windfall profits tax on oil companies which would only serve to pass on higher costs to the consumer and give more money to an out of control government budget.

The Democrat party truly believes that the government can do better than the private sector even though that has never been true in any point in history. The problem lies in the elected officials who run our government. Their lack of even a basic understanding of economics is scary. Most politicians have never held a real job, had to make payroll, had to pay insurance, had to pay for healthcare or any other task that most American workers and business owners take responsibility for. No, politicians are covered by one of the most generous pension and benefits programs on the planet. If such a system applied to all Americans, our national debt would be in the hundreds of trillions of dollars. Don?t believe that these perks would ever apply to American citizens even if the democrats gave control of all aspects of our life to the government. Think more along the lines of British healthcare or Soviet efficiency and economic success. Prepare to wait in line.

Change is a beautiful catchphrase that means absolutely nothing. Half this country is brain-dead and brainwashed into accepting a campaign about nothing and a candidate with no clue. Obama may be smart but he is all over the map on everything from energy to foreign policy. One day Obama wants to nuke our ally Pakistan and the next he wants to have tea with Ahmadinejad and offer Bin Laden a spot in the witness protection plan if he rats out other terrorists. The Democrats and Hugo Chavez have a lot in common, they have no idea what they are doing. This doesn?t mean that Republicans are perfect but at least they believe in common sense Capitalism. The Democrat party is being controlled by outright socialists that make European socialists look like country club Republicans.

Peter Turner
Atlantic-Pacific Alliance
Diario de América