Bringing LIBERTY to
Capitol Hill -- 2008
OZARKS
VIRTUAL TOWN
HALL
Saturday Morning, August 23, 2008, 10:30am
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A Discussion of The President's Saturday Morning
Radio Address
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Click here
to listen to a replay of the August 23, 2008 Ozarks Virtual
Town Hall |
Notes and Summary of the President's Address -- Energy
THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Before they left Washington
for their August recess, Congress failed to take action on an issue that
is currently of great concern to Americans: high prices at the gas
pump. (continued below)
How the President Differs from the American vision of
"Liberty Under God":
- America was founded on the philosophy of "Liberty
Under God."
- "Liberty" means freedom from government
suppression of ideas and confiscation of wealth
- "Under God"
means we have a personal responsibility to love
God and neighbor.
- Human beings are endowed with the right to property by
God, not the government.
- Private Property and Freedom form the solution to the
"energy crisis."
- America's Founding Fathers created a nation they called "an
experiment in Liberty"
- The Experiment in Liberty made America the most prosperous and
admired nation in human history.
- During the 20th century, numerous nations experimented with
government central planning.
- The experiments in government central planning resulted in
poverty and mass death (USSR, Red China, etc.).
- The Free Market -- "capitalism" -- creates
prosperity; the government inevitably creates recession,
depression, poverty.
- "Government Energy Policy" is Unconstitutional
- In America, under the Constitution, the Federal Government
only has the powers which "We the People" delegated to
it in the Constitution.
- The Tenth Amendment in the Bill of Rights summarizes the
philosophy of the Constitution:
- "The powers not delegated to the United States by the
Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are
reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
- In Federalist
45, Madison described the relationship between the federal
government and the states in these famous words:
- The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the
federal government, are few and defined. Those which
are to remain in the State governments are numerous and
indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on
external objects, as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign
commerce; with which last the power of taxation will, for
the most part, be connected. The powers reserved to the
several States will extend to all the objects which, in the
ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties,
and properties of the people, and the internal order,
improvement, and prosperity of the State. [emphasis
added]
- The President should not even be talking about energy. He
should not be asking Congress to solve the "energy
crisis," only to get out of the way and let capitalism
supply energy.
- The voluntary transactions entered into by hundreds of millions of
Americans at home and in their businesses, based on the combined
knowledge of millions of investors, business owners, and managers of
households, all of them accountable to the discipline of
profit-and-loss, organizes the nation's economic activity better
than a handful of politicians trying to please special interests and
get re-elected.
- We don't have a "national policy" on groceries,
computers, automobiles, or shoes, yet Americans have no shortage of
these things. The energy shortage is caused by government policies.
President
Bush's
Saturday Morning Radio Address
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Another
Perspective:
"Liberty Under God"
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THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Before they left
Washington for their August recess, Congress failed to take action
on an issue that is currently of great concern to Americans: high
prices at the gas pump. |
High Prices are caused by previous acts of
Congress. |
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The fundamental reason for high gasoline prices is
that the supply of oil is not keeping pace with demand. To reduce
pressure on prices, we need to increase the supply of oil,
especially oil produced here at home. So in June, I called on
Congress to open up more of America's domestic oil resources for
exploration -- including offshore exploration of the Outer
Continental Shelf. The American people overwhelmingly support this
proposal. But throughout the summer, the leaders of the Democratic
Congress have refused to allow it to come to a vote. |
This seems like a fundamental truth.
Why is it the President waited until June of 2008
to act on this obvious truth? |
| Now that the pressure to take
action has become overwhelming, Democratic leaders in Congress
have changed their strategy. Rather than attempting to block
expanded drilling by preventing a vote, they are now attempting to
block it by bringing up a bill that is designed to fail. |
Oil producers should
be allowed to produce, but they should also bear the costs of
their production. The federal government subsidizes oil production
in the Middle East by spending trillions of dollars to secure the
facilities of the oil industry. Maybe oil isn't such a great
energy source, if it requires such costs to produce it. Those
costs are hidden from consumers because they pay in taxes, rather
than at the pump. |
| News reports indicate that
Democratic leaders in Congress may plan to hold a vote on a bill
that would make us more dependent on foreign oil and would likely
make energy costs go up, not down. This bill would raise
taxes on energy companies -- which would reduce domestic
production. This bill would make the Nation more vulnerable to
supply shocks by tapping into our emergency supply of oil -- the
Strategic Petroleum Reserve. And it would impose a rigid national
mandate that would increase electricity costs in states where
there are few renewable resources. |
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| Democratic leaders know that
these counterproductive proposals will not become law. Yet they
seem ready to push this legislation as a way to block offshore
drilling while appearing to be in favor of it. They
need to stop standing in the way of expanding domestic production
and take meaningful steps now to address the pain caused by high
energy prices. |
The Democrats are
ruled by environmentalist lobbies. |
| I proposed a comprehensive
approach to our energy problems that would permit a range of new
drilling options and encourage the development of alternative
resources. If Democratic leaders will not approve this
comprehensive approach, the very least they should do when they
return in September is to take action on three common-sense energy
solutions that enjoy bipartisan support. |
We don't need a
"comprehensive approach." We simply need freedom.
We need the government to recognize our God-given right to private
property. |
| First, Congress should open the
way for environmentally responsible offshore exploration on the
Outer Continental Shelf. Experts believe that these areas could
eventually produce nearly 10 years' worth of America's current
annual oil production. This exploration is now banned by a
provision included in the annual interior appropriations bill.
When Congress returns they should remove this restriction -- so we
can get these vast oil resources from the ocean floor to your gas
tank. |
There is no reason
why the ocean cannot be owned privately, just as the continents
are owned privately (or should be). |
| Second, Congress should expand
access to oil shale -- a resource right here in America that could
produce the equivalent of more than a century's worth of imports
at current levels. Last year, however, Democratic leaders pushed
through legislation blocking oil shale leasing on Federal
lands. They should lift that ban as soon as they return. |
Why does the federal
government own this land? The federal government owns nearly 40%
of America! |
| Third, Congress should extend
renewable power tax credits to spur the development of alternative
sources of energy like wind and solar. They should make these
credits long term and expand them to cover all forms of
low-emission power generation -- including nuclear power.
Increasing production of low-carbon electricity will help us
reduce our addiction to oil by allowing us to power a new
generation of plug-in hybrid and hydrogen-powered vehicles. |
Selective tax credits
are not as effective as complete abolition of confiscatory
taxation. |
| There is bipartisan support in
Congress for all three of these measures. So instead of spending
the next month deadlocked on matters where Republicans and
Democrats disagree, members of Congress should come together to
pass legislation in these areas, where there is agreement. |
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| This Congress has been one of the
most unproductive on record. They've failed to address the
challenge of high gas prices. Members still have time to take
action on this vital priority for the American people. They need
to send me a bill next month that I can sign -- so we can bring
relief to drivers, small business owners, farmers and ranchers,
and every American affected by high prices at the pump. |
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| Thank you for listening. |
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Kevin Craig's Platform:
Previous Editions of the Ozarks Virtual Town
Hall
Lots of links!
Click here to
go to a replay of the August 2nd, 2008 Ozarks
Virtual Town Hall
Subject: The Government-Caused Energy Crisis
Click here to
go to a replay of the July 19th, 2008 Ozarks
Virtual Town Hall
Subject: Energy and Housing
Click here to
go to a replay of the June 21st, 2008 Ozarks
Virtual Town Hall
Subject: "Rising Gas Prices"
Why Politicians Who Talk About
"Energy Independence" Are Frauds:
Additional Libertarian Resources
- How Foreign
Policy Affects Gas Prices | Congressman Ron Paul
- Both
Parties Promote Energy Socialism | Roy Cordato
- The solution is to drop these policies, replace them with
nothing, therefore instituting free markets. Abolish all
subsidies and punitive taxes that either promote or punish
differing energy sources. Eliminate so-called "energy
efficiency programs," which amount to social engineering
and lifestyle control. This would include laws regarding average
fuel economy for automobiles (CAFE standards) and the kinds of
light bulbs and appliances people can use. And state governments
should repeal all renewable portfolio standards that restrict
the use of coal, oil, natural gas, and nuclear power for
electricity generation, as well as restrictions on CO2 emissions
-- especially cap-and-trade programs.
The only energy policy our
government should have is freedom of choice. Let consumers and
producers decide what is efficient; how much we import and who
we import it from; how much profit companies should earn; and,
just as importantly, how large the losses are they should
sustain.
- No additional resources have been added since the last list of
resources in previous editions of the Ozarks Virtual Town Hall. See
the archives above for more resources.
Revolution Won't Come in a Day
John Adams once wrote that the American
Revolution began in 1761, when Massachusetts attorney James Otis
began legal challenges to the Writs
of Assistance. He lost the case, but "American
independence," Adams wrote, "was
then and there born." Now do the math. That means it took 15
years to convince the rest of America to declare Independence
(1776). Then another seven years of war was required before a
Peace Treaty was signed (1783), and then six years before the
Constitution was finally ratified (1789). That's almost 30 years. (And
Jefferson said we shouldn't go 20
years without another rebellion!) How can we hope to convince
Americans to fight for principles they were never taught in government
schools? We need to be in this battle for the long term. "Eternal
Vigilance is the Price of Liberty."
The Internet Can Speed up the Revolution
Here are ways you can help.
Communicating with Government and Media
- Contact Congress -- this
is from the JBS website, powered by "CapWiz," from Capitol
Advantage. Lots of organizations use capwiz. If you don't want to go
through the JBS, search for capwiz
on Google and find another organization that uses it.
Notice that you can also contact media through this webpage.
- Action E-List
Sign up for the JBS Action E-List and be notified when you can
make a critical difference on important issues.
End
Asset Forfeiture
If the government suspects you used your house or car in a
crime, they can take it and sell it at auction. They don't
even have to prove your guilt. They call this practice civil
asset forfeiture, but it's really theft. It violates the 4th,
5th, 6th, 8th, 9th and 14th Amendments. It also encourages law
enforcement to put profits before justice. Tell Congress to
end civil asset forfeiture.
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Support
an Iraq Referendum
Americans keep debating when, how, or if to leave Iraq. Maybe we
should ask the Iraqi people what they want. After all, it's
their country. Tell Congress to request that the Iraqi
government hold a public referendum on the U.S. occupation. Learn
more »
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"Cap
and Trade" is not the way
The politicians seem to be unifying around "cap and
trade" as a way to cut CO2 emissions. If they take this
step it may be the largest increase in the size, scope, and
intrusiveness of government since the creation of Medicare.
Worse still, it may not even achieve its purpose. Please tell
Congress to oppose "cap and trade." Learn
more »
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Iraq
Waste
Big government prospers through failure. Each new failure is
used to justify more spending and new powers. Wasteful spending
in Iraq is the latest example. One way to change this is to hold
government accountable. A new bill in Congress seeks to provide
some of the needed accountability. Please support it. Learn
more »
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Stop
the War for Terror
U.S. policy has inflamed the Middle East. It has made
terrorism more likely rather than less. We seem to be fighting a
war for terror, rather than on
terror. This policy must stop. The place to start stopping is with
Iran. We must not attack Iran. War with Iran would
devastate our economy, disrupt world oil supplies, and recruit
more terrorists. Click
here to stop this war before it starts.
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The Democrat Party Radio Address:
The The
Democratic Radio Address was delivered by former New Hampshire
governor Jeanne Shaheen, who gave a laundry list of Democrat
complaints about Republicans, and vague promises for next week's
Democratic Convention.
Click here
for a replay of this edition of the Ozarks Virtual
Town Hall
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