ACTION NEEDED

threat to our nation’s economy and energy security.  The Administration is proposing at least $400 billion in new taxes and fees on the oil and natural gas industry, which would result in:

Raising taxes in a time of economic decline is a recipe for disaster.  Public policy should spur job growth, not hurt businesses and consumers.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Take Action Today!

Thank you to all of the Partnership members who have already contacted their legislators about this important issue.  If you haven’t had a chance to take action, there is still time!

Let your Members of Congress know that you oppose tax and fee hikes on the oil and natural gas industry.

Please take the following two actions:

It’s critical that we add our voices
to the debate—before it’s too late!

The Liberty Tree Lantern is happy to report that after discussions under The Liberty Tree the honorable Representative John Nygren Republican for the 89^th Assembly district of The State of Wisconsin has committed to drafting a Wisconsin Sovereignty bill upon his return from recess.  He felt that he could have such a bill drafted by mid-January.

During our discussions on the merits of such a bill, which would be a reasonable facsimile of the Oklahoma Joint Resolution bill 1089, see: http://captkarl.blogivists.com/2008/07/20/notice-and-demand-to-the-federal-government-open-letter-to-state-assemblyman-john-nygren/,

Mr. Nygren felt that such a bill may have broad bi-partisan support.  During deliberation it was his belief that many Democrats in the State legislature are quite fed up with Federal Government mandates dictating what the State of Wisconsin can and can not do and how our state is being so manipulated.

One of this publisher’s greatest concerns is that all of our countrymen and constitutionally independent sovereign States have at least some “sea wall” to protect our vessels of freedom against the onslaught of the “perfect storm” which has only just commenced to buffet our bobbing ship on the waves of this U.S. Congress constitutional scofflaw legislated nightmare.  The high prices of gasoline, heat, light and food, and massive devaluation of the Dollar we are now experiencing and causing us great financial harm only being the very tip of the ice berg of Socialism of which we must traverse.  The battle for freedom must be fought by the brave individuals of this country, hopefully with a little help from our State Governments.

Please, for all of our financial sakes and most importantly the cause of freedom, please – RIGHT NOW, write your State representatives and ask him if he would support such a bill.   Yes, do this in our State of Wisconsin, but also do it in whatever State you may live in and plead with your representative to do the same.

Our individual financial health and the freedom of every single one of us may very well be at stake.  If all 50 States of the Union have a little healthy rebellion to compel the U.S. Congress to finally obey the law, this would be a very good thing.  Who knows, it may even help us to avoid the civil / Re-Revolutionary War that The Liberty Tree Lantern forecasts in less than fourteen years and even perhaps just a few months out.  When The Matrix collapses, which we have already been very close to a couple of times during the last year, which it will unless the Government is successful in forcing us into the “Final Ultimatum” and the resulting Socialism under a North American Union (NAU), all hell will break loose. 

See: We Live In The Matrix: http://captkarl.blogivists.com/2008/06/17/hello-world/ and A Conversation with A Concerned Mom which is with in this string of associated posts: http://captkarl.blogivists.com/index.php?s=Matrix

The Liberty Tree Lantern shall continue to keep you informed of this developing story on this highly important matter of State.  Check back from time to time so you do not miss very important developments affecting your family, wealth and freedom.

Message text follows:

July 22, 2008

[recipient address was inserted here]

 [recipient name was inserted here],

I am writing to you about the proposed economic stimulus package being considered in the Senate Appropriations Committee this week.

Listen Democrats and RINOs.  We need to let FREEDOM (from Government) undo the whole mess you created through your constitutionally contemptuous legislation and behaviors.  You all need to go back and read both our founding documents and reverse the damage you have done since the inception of The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 and the sham of what you think allows you to control the people in the land of THE FREE by the way of taxes and a humongous Federal Government that was never intended to exist by our Founders as evidenced by numerous writings, documents and formal records of the members of the Continental Congress. 

There were specific reasons why the Federal Government was created with a very limited ability to raise funding by way of the tax / apportionment clause of the Constitution and the concerns of Thomas Jefferson and, later, President Jackson with regards to a “central bank”. 

Now We The People are suffering hardships for your end run around The Constitution and The Declaration of Independence.  These hardships will be far worse than the “normal” business cycles which naturally occur with the prosperity that FREEDOM generates, and of which your predecessors and the powerful banker interests used as an excuse to legislate and pass The Federal Reserve Act; which has resulted in endless funding of endless programs by the Federal Government, yielding a usurpation of our power as masters over our servant Government. 

In order to cover the interest on ceaseless borrowing from the central bank, which is completely unconstitutional, your predecessors have claimed to have overridden The Constitutional clause that forbids a direct tax on our fellow countrymen.  But yet there are Supreme Court cases clearly stating that the Sixteenth Amendment has no tax impact on ordinary American earnings and thus the only legal tax is an apportioned tax, which we all realize is politically unsustainable over the long run (and for good reasons of which we now learn through contemporary experience). 

nothing to back up its value or the “promise to pay” of said “NOTE”.  

Meanwhile our economy is crashing around us as you refuse to allow freedom to work to allow for the harvesting of domestic energy supplies in and around our country; All as a result of your actions, behaviors and contempt for The Constitution.  And, yet you continue to create Socialist programs that economically and mathematically can not support themselves.

According to The Washington Times article of July 2nd, 2007 Op-Ed, Social Security and Medicare ALONE, will be $90 TRILLION DOLLARS in UNFUNDED debt, over the infinite horizon.  Who is going to pay for that?  I sure to God hope you are not even thinking about taking more money out of our take-home pay in the form of “payroll” taxes and withholding!  Especially at a time that we can not afford to pay for our gasoline, utility, and food bills all due to your contempt for the rule of law as ordained and established by us through the Constitution of the United States.  Who the hell are you to make us so dependent on Socialism that you make some of us believe we could never do without it?  The fact is you are actually and knowingly making it so.  Why, for the power you will then be able to usurp from us to the point that there is then no FREEDOM (from Government) at all?

You should all be ashamed!  I am utterly disgusted with nearly all of you in both houses of Congress.

Mark my words, Congressmen; Someday the American people will fully wakeup and realize what you have done to us.  We will self educate ourselves, necessary due to the fact that we have not been taught about freedom (which, according to our founding fathers means freedom from and power OVER Government through self-governance) and the prosperity and low prices that it brings, through the government sponsored school system that has left such a void of American history, heritage, economics and basic constitutional knowledge of our rights and enumerated powers of the Federal Government.  But wakeup we will, for the urgency of the damage and the oncoming hardship that you have and are causing to us and our posterity, for your constitutionally scofflaw behaviors will make life unbearable and will certainly cause the American Dream, our very way of life and the very essence of our FREEDOM to otherwise disappear into the darkness of the chains and bondage of the soup kitchens of the Socialist welfare state.  Personally I don’t know how you can live with yourselves for the mockery you have done to your constitutional oath and to your own countrymen.

If you had any hint of decency you would enact legislation to reverse the course of Government, shrink it’s size to THE Constitutionally intended size and enumerated powers/responsibilities and educate the public on why you are reversing and stepping down all Federal Socialist programs for the good of the economy, the long term economic health for our people and for FREEDOM.  Additionally and most especially you need to coin and mint our money as the LAW requires in the constitution and omit The Federal Reserve System, which is nothing more than a private closely held company that collects nearly all OUR income taxes in the form of interest.  Why are we paying interest on our own tax money, that the Government “borrows” from The Federal Reserve company who collects it from us through the IRS, anyway?

Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is a nationwide organization of citizen leaders committed to advancing every individual’s right to economic freedom and opportunity. AFP believes reducing the size and scope of government is the best safeguard to ensuring individual productivity and prosperity for all Americans. AFP educates and engages citizens in support of restraining state and federal government growth, and returning government to its constitutional limits. For more information, visit www.americansforprosperity.org Americans for Prosperity-Wisconsin Chapter will be communicating with you pursuant to Wis. Stats 11.29(1)

We Conservatives, which are simply nothing more than people who strongly advocate and believe in FREEDOM (from Government, Government “help”, and Government meddling in our INDIVIDUAL daily lives and from Government telling us what we can and can not spend our money on, where we can or can not drill for oil and gas, where we can live (Our Government is trying to force us back into the cities into little tiny apartments where we can be “monitored” and forced to comply with “The Law” (who the hell are they anyway.  All they are is the Government – THAT MAKES THEM OUR SERVANTS not OUR MASTERS.  When We The People tell them to jump, they better damn well ask “how high”.  They are NOTHING, absolutely NOTHING, compared to our level of status, because we are FREE (from Government).  This is what our Patriots fought, and many paying the ultimate price for, against our Government, back during the Revolutionary War when we won our FREEDOM (from Government) at great cost.  Our policemen and army soldiers in the Red Coats, burned down a lot of our homes and killed many of our men, women and children doing anything they could to prevent us from having FREEDOM (from Government).  But we farmers, common working men, and some regulars (trained and regular army, trained by our Government of the time) gave everything for us to be FREE.

Conservatives are the embodiment of those of the land of the FREE who fought for our FREEDOM (which means freedom FROM GOVERNMENT).  Conservatives KNOW that we are in charge, through NATURAL LAW, which in its essence means the Ten Commandments of God.  We have been given certain inalienable rights by God himself.  Of what right does our mere SERVANT Government have to take away our rights and usurp our power bestowed upon us by the one Supreme Being who created every single atom of every single thing you can see, taste, touch or feel?  The U.S. Government, but most especially both houses of Congress, are fools, idiots, blasphemers that they think they can go against the will of God himself.  I believe the sequence of unrighteousness that Congress has done in utter contempt for The Constitution of The United States of America, causing run away gasoline, diesel, heat, light, electricity, food and other costs, taking away our Freedoms, forcing Socialist programs upon us which mathematically never could work and  of which has never worked the several times tried in the history of our planet, will result in the wrath of God that will befall upon the officials in Government and especially Congress, through us.

Just wait for a while.  I am telling you folks that energy prices will keep going up until Congress decides to make the exploration for oil and gas, where it is, legal.  Also our Government has no choice but to take 80+ percent of our earnings out of our paychecks to pay for Social Security and Medicare.  Now when gasoline costs so much and our paychecks go down, and down and down and down to the point that we can’t afford heat, light, gasoline and we start to lose our cars and homes because we can’t afford the payments anymore, DUE TO OUR LOSS OF FREEDOM (from Government), and people start “walking” by the hundreds and thousands to the city to live in “Government Provided” one and two bedroom apartments and we all start living in the equal distribution of misery and poverty, than even the idiot Liberals will start to ask questions and actually do research to find out what happened.

You see Government is never the solution to a problem, GOVERNMENT IS THE PROBLEM.  Our Founding Fathers knew this.  That is why they created The Constitution to protect us from our Government.  They have stated in many of their writings that it is up to you and me to police our Government to ensure that they obey the Law.  But we have not been doing our job or taking care of our responsibility.  Government officials are NOTHING.  They are our Servants to do OUR bidding.  We all have to understand that we are FREE by the blessings of God himself.

Socialism and/or Communism (which is “help” from government, who literally steals money and assets from living people by force, and gives it to others.  This is diametrically against NATURAL LAW, the law of God.  It is sinful at best.  It also turns man against man.  Freedom (from Government) on the other hand, is of God.  It causes man to Love one another and to help one another just like days of old when neighbors would come from miles around to help a new farmer and family build a home and a barn.  That wasn’t done by government.  It was done by us, a loving community of people who treated each other as we would like to be treated.  We cared about each other back then, because if somebody was down on his luck, there was no government to help.  We had to care then and you know what?  We did CARE then.  And, we helped our neighbors.

Now, because of “Government” we don’t care about anybody but ourselves.  Why? Because “That is Government’s” responsibility to help those people”.  See how horrible Socialism is?  See how absolutely heinous “Government help” is?  It takes away our right to help our neighbor.  Idiots and fools say, “What do you mean it takes away our “right” to help our neighbors?  We can still pitch in and help.”   Yeah right, a whole bunch of government or commercial trucks and contractors come in at “Government” expense to rebuild a home for somebody and you are going to go over there with your tool box and help them right?  Yeah, sure.  You will say government has so much more money than I have it is best that I just let them handle it.  “Besides” you will say; “I have enough of my own matters to worry about, I don’t have anytime, I need all the money and time I have to take care of myself and my family.”  And, therefore, you will do nothing to help your neighbor in need.   That is a big reason why Government is disgusting.  It is taking our rights away to really do something important for our neighbors who are down on their luck and broke or poor or sick.  Personally I think this is just horrible.  When the need for us to love and care for one another is taken away from us by Government eventually it gets to the point where we don’t even say hi to each other anymore.  Why in my younger days I lived in little apartment complexes and there were neighbors who lived in the same building that I didn’t even know and they wouldn’t even say hi to me.  Is this how we all want to live?  Is this what we have become?  Is this the future we want for our children?

We have to stop Socialism and/or Communism in its tracks, before it destroys our FREEDOM (from Government) forever.  Maybe, we might need to start sharpening our pitchforks for that Concord moment at the bridge.  While we may have exchanged one tyrant 3000 miles across the sea for 3000 tyrants a few miles away and their enforcers may wear different colored uniforms or the dark suits and glasses of the IRS Agents, they are certainly, none-the-less tyrants.

I see a whole army of my countrymen, here in defiance of tyranny. You’ve come to fight as free men… and free men you are. What will you do with that freedom? Will you fight? 

You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on Earth, or we will sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness under the Slave Masters of Socialism or Communism.   Doing nothing but living your lives with your head in the sand and not wanting to even talk about these things is even more cowardly than standing up for the chains and bondage slavery of the Socialist Welfare State. Are you going to do nothing while Government “helps” us to Socialism under the One World Government advocated by the Trilateral Commission, www.trilateral.org , whose leaders are the same people who own the privately held company called THE FEDERAL RESERVE, who collects and OWNS every penny of our income taxes, according to the Grace Commission Report.  Think how much money they collect and make from every taxpaying American.  How can you accept the fact that your “forced” by the end of a gun, income taxes are going to a private company?  How can you take the fact that your money is not only making interest payments, paid by you, but also your tax money is getting borrowed at more interest to entities all over the world by THE FEDERAL RESERVE?  How can you accept the fact that the FEDERAL RESERVE is printing money that isn’t even real money but rather a FEDERAL RESERVE “NOTE”, which means that it is NOT MONEY but ONLY THE PROMISE to pay with real money sometime in the future, this time it is a future that never comes.  So if all Dollars are Notes, than have you ever been truly paid for all your labor?  The honest answer is no, YOU HAVE NEVER BEEN PAID.  If all Dollars are only “NOTES” then have you ever bought and paid for anything?  The answer is NO!  If neither you nor anyone else has paid for anything we see or touch, than who really owns our vehicles and homes.  You better hope and pray you never find out.  Because all I know for sure is that all the things you ‘think’ you own, you do not.  How can you truly own anything you have never paid for – because Dollars ARE NOT MONEY!  This is one of the major reasons why the Dollar is falling in international exchange price.  It should fall to around four cents to the Dollar.  That means that everything you buy should go up in price by as much as twenty five times in the near future. 

I would suggest you calculate that out to see if you can afford that, ask yourself where the U.S. Government is going to come up with the 90 TRILLION Dollars, to pay for Social Security and Medicare ALONE, which will exist in UNFUNDED Liabilities, over the infinite horizon, by January (hint: it can only come out of your paycheck in “withholding”) and then ask yourself if you still want to keep your head in the sand and do nothing but wait for the Government to deliver to us the “final ultimatum”;  To give up The Constitution and our FREEDOM for the chains and bondage of the soup kitchens of the Socialist Welfare State.

We tackle a lot of discussions here on FS.  But none is as important as these matters of Freedom, prosperity, and war as this matter.

I leave you with one last question:  Why is the U.S. Congress doing absolutely NOTHING, to bring down the price of oil and gas?  In fact, why do they seem to fight to keep the price high?  In fact, why does it seem that they are fighting to make it go even higher by not allowing us to drill for oil and gas WHERE IT IS?  I’ll tell you why – It is because it will force us into the major cities where they can manage, control, oppress and tyrannized us easier.  Big Brother and his TV cameras will be all over the “Government” built apartments they will have for us, to “help us” in our time of need.  Well I have the tools I need to “help ourselves” from the cause of the problem.  And those tools stem from the Second Amendment from which is its purpose as stated.  I leave you with four quotes from Thomas Jefferson:

·        Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the form of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question.  (Are our Congressmen, with freezers stuffed full of cash money, angels and not men?  Are these “angels” influenced by others of questionable self-serving motives?  Do you really believe they are well representing us, or do you rather believe that they are pushing the interests of a few with power, or using the excuses afforded them by environmentalists to usurp even more power from us and herd us, by the shear force of economics, back into the major cities and into small apartment units (with little “carbon” footprint)?

·        To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.

·        For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well-organized and armed militia is their best security.  (Humm, Why did Thomas Jefferson and other founding fathers just as much so, after years of advanced study on the various historical facts of all the forms of government of history, state this?  Perhaps it would behoove us to come up with the answer to this question, and if wise to protect our freedom (from Government “help”), employ the Second Amendment and militia for it’s intended purpose which is quoted next:

·        The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

·        And last but not least for the fools amongst us who just don’t get it: I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.

I don’t want to live like that; I am sure none of us do.  But what are we going to do about a U.S. Congress who wants us to live in Socialism or Communism?  Through out history this is what has happened to countries that employ Socialist legislation.  Our Founding Fathers knew this and that is why they, well representing us, wrote the Constitutional Laws on Government, so that they would be subservant to us and not our masters.

Now the only question is are we willing to fight for our FREEDOM.  What does FREEDOM mean?  According to the Founding Fathers, FREEDOM means freedom FROM Govenment.  Freedom (from Government “helping” us) is the greatest wealth generator ever created amongst man.  With FREEDOM comes prosperity, wealth, and happiness for the far greatest number of people. 

Thomas Jefferson wrote the following quotes:

• A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor and bread it has earned – this is the sum of good government.
• Liberty is to the collective body, what health is to every individual body. Without health no pleasure can be tasted by man; without liberty, no happiness can be enjoyed by society.
• Our greatest happiness does not depend on the condition of life in which chance has placed us, but is always the result of a good conscience, good health, occupation, and freedom in all just pursuits.
• I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
• Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add ‘within the limits of the law’ because law is often but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.

L.A. Sees More People Living Out of Their Cars
Monday, June 23, 2008

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AP

June 4, 2008: Darlene Knoll, 53, in the sleeping area of the 1978 motor home where she lives in L.A. after losing her job and home.
LOS ANGELES — Having lost her job and her three-bedroom house, Darlene Knoll has joined the legions of downwardly mobile who are four wheels away from homelessness.

She is living out of her shabby 1978 RV, and every night she has to look for a place to park where she won’t get hassled by the cops or insulted by residents.

“I’m not a piece of trash,” the former home health-care aide said as she stroked one of five dogs in her cramped quarters parked in the waterfront community of Marina del Rey.

Amid the foreclosure crisis and the shaky economy, some California cities are seeing an increase in the number of people living out of their cars, vans or RVs.

Acting on complaints from homeowners, the Los Angeles City Council got tough earlier this year by forbidding nearly all overnight parking in residential neighborhoods such as South Brentwood.

But some people are just crowding into other parts of the city, including the seaside community of Venice, where dozens of rusty, dilapidated campers can be seen lined up outside neat single-family homes. The stench of urine emanates from a few of the vehicles, and some residents say they have seen human waste left behind.

“They’re nasty and gnarly,” said Venice resident Jeff Scharlin. “We’ve heard about drug dealing and prostitution in them. I’ve never seen it, but visually they’re a blight and they take up parking space.”

In Los Angeles, as in many other cities, it is illegal to live in vehicles on public streets. But the law is not easy to enforce. Police have to enter a vehicle to find signs that people are living there, such as cooking or sleeping, and occupants often refuse to answer when cops knock.

An easier way is to restrict overnight parking. In L.A., a first offense carries a $50 fine, and subsequent violations can cost as much as $100.

Parking-enforcement officers often give vehicle owners a warning and tell them to move on before issuing a ticket, and that usually solves the problem, said Alan Willis, a city transportation engineer. But other cities in the area are not as lenient.

“I had my motor home towed in Culver City. It cost me $500 to get it out,” said Desiri Hawkins, who lives in a small RV in Venice. “I got ticketed in Santa Monica and had to go to court.”

Tourist states with temperate climates, such as California and Florida, have long been magnets for the homeless. Los Angeles is the nation’s homelessness capital, with an estimated 73,000 people on the streets. A survey of 3,230 homeless people last year in Los Angeles County found nearly 7 percent living in vehicles, according to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.

“It’s trending toward an increase,” said Michael Stoop, acting executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless. “People would rather live in a vehicle than wind up in a shelter, and you can’t stay on a friend’s couch forever.”

People living out of their cars or campers tend to be more well-off than the homeless on the street. They usually have jobs or disability checks that enable them to maintain an old camper but do not allow them to afford rent.

“For more working-class and lower-middle-class people, the car is the first stop of being homeless, and sometimes it turns out to be a long stop,” said Gary Blasi, a University of California, Los Angeles, law professor and activist on homeless issues.

Some Venice residents are clamoring for overnight parking restrictions. But parking limits in oceanfront neighborhoods are problematic because the California Coastal Commission requires communities to accommodate surfers, fishermen and other early-morning beachgoers.

“The complaints are getting louder and louder,” said Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl.

For years, some cities such as Santa Barbara, Calif., and Eugene, Ore., have accommodated people who live out of their vehicles. Activists in Venice are looking at some of those ideas. Santa Barbara, for example, allows vehicles to stay from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. in church and city parking lots.

Knoll said she can barely afford to drive around with the rising price of gasoline eating away at the $950 monthly disability check she receives because of mental illness.

She said she is also sick of police waking her up in the wee hours by pounding on her vehicle with their nightsticks, and she is tired of fighting with residents who call her “lowlife scum” and hurl other insults.

“We need somewhere we can have a safe haven, where we won’t be harassed,” Knoll said as the wind from a passing car rocked her RV. “I never thought I’d be living like this, but I’m stuck. This is it for me.”

Harry Reid has an unusual message for America. Last week he had a brainstorm, “We want to put [more oil] on the market to increase supply and lower prices,with oil and gas prices continuing to break record highs every day, much more needs to be done.” Thats not the unusual part, the Senator is correct. TODAY the US is sitting on an estimated 115 billion barrels of oil and 633 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, if tapped it would be enough to drive down the price of oil, lower the cost of producing food cutting down those costs, and free the United States from the grip of the Oil Producing countries. The Unusual Part is that Senator Reid and his Democratic buddies REFUSE to let us Drill:

Let’s Drill
There’s oil in them thar hills.
by Fred Barnes
05/26/2008, Volume 013, Issue 35
Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, the Mr. Magoo of American politics, stumbled onto the truth last week. He discovered the law of supply and demand. “We want to put [more oil] on the market to increase supply and lower prices,” Reid said. “With oil and gas prices continuing to break record highs every day, much more needs to be done.”

Indeed it does. But Reid won’t allow it. His understanding of economics only extends to matters in which he might embarrass President Bush. The oil he wants on the market is the oil the administration is buying for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), now nearly full. Reid got his way. The administration now plans to stop oil shipments to the SPR next month.

Beyond that, Reid and his party are committed to suppressing increased oil production in this country, as they wait for that magical day when fossil fuels are no longer needed to supply the nation’s energy needs.

That day may come in 50, 60, 70 years–or never. In the meantime, America needs oil, and the good news is we’re awash in the stuff. If the oil reserves miles off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and in federally owned lands in the West and Alaska were tapped, our dependence on foreign oil could begin to be reversed. In 10 years, half of America’s oil could be produced at home (up from 40 percent), with more coming from increased exports from Canada.

We wouldn’t achieve energy independence. That’s a pipedream, and anyway it isn’t necessary in a global economy with multiple producers. But America would be taking a big step toward energy security and reducing the flow of dollars to unstable countries–notably Iran and Venezuela–that do not wish us well.

So more oil production would strengthen America’s national security. By increasing the supply of oil, it would reduce the price, or at least ease the pressure on price from rising world demand. And the mere commitment to boosting production would have a soothing effect on a world market easily spooked by threats to supply.

But there’s a problem: Eighty-five percent of the untapped domestic sources of oil have been put off-limits. There’s a federally mandated moratorium on drilling offshore, and huge roadblocks to exploiting the oil on the vast federal lands have been erected.

“What keeps these areas closed are exaggerated environmental fears, strong prejudice against oil companies and sheer stupidity,” wrote Robert Samuelson recently. Lifting the moratorium requires action by Congress and the White House. So don’t hold your breath. The Democratic Congress is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environmental lobby, which regards oil exploration, much less drilling, as a sin against nature.

Advances in technology, however, make serious offshore oil spills a thing of the past. One hundred eight platforms were destroyed and hundreds more damaged in the Gulf of Mexico by hurricanes Rita and Katrina without a single major spill. Californians may remember the damaging spill off Santa Barbara, but that was 40 years ago and was the result of ancient technology.

New technology also means the coastlines would not be marred by unsightly oil platforms. Drilling now goes miles deeper to capture oil once out of reach–and much farther offshore. The moratorium doesn’t take this into account. It blindly bars drilling for 200 miles off the Atlantic and Pacific shores.

The United States is virtually alone in treating offshore production as taboo. Great Britain and Norway drill off their coasts without polluting the North Sea. Brazil has achieved energy independence not only by ethanol use but also by expanded offshore oil production. China is now drilling at Cuba’s behest in waters halfway to the coast of Florida.

There’s another compelling reason to boost domestic production. Oil from current sites is gradually being depleted. Unless new sources come on line in the next few years, America will produce less oil at home and become even more dependent on oil from abroad, the Middle East in particular.

Reid and Democrats, OPEC’s best friends, aren’t noticeably concerned. Their next step is to remove tax incentives to explore and drill for more oil. And Senator Hillary Clinton is eager to impose a new windfall profits tax on oil revenues. These measures have no purpose other than to punish oil companies. They are counterproductive.

When you remove incentives to produce something and when you slap higher taxes on its producers, one thing happens: You get less of the product. In the case of oil, we need more of it and will for the foreseeable future. The oil is there for the getting. But it won’t come out of the ground on its own.

–Fred Barnes, for the Editors

Drill Here. Drill Now. Pay Less.

   www.americansolutions.com features the Drill Here.  Drill Now.  Pay Less. petition.  This short, yet powerful petition is a splash ice cold reality water on the faces of our elected officials.  Here is their latest progress update:
 
 

Help American Solutions get to three million.  Sign up today.

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