I wonder how many
voters are still playing Charlie Brown when others have learned the truth about
election year promises and pledges. What
does Charlie Brown have to do with our elections colonel?
Remember the cartoon
where Lucy is holding the football, promising Charlie Brown that this time she
won’t pull it away when he tries to kick it as she’s always done before?
What happens? Yep, poor ol’ Charlie falls for it every year and ends up
flat on his back.
Lucy represents our
politicians, the football, their campaign promises and we voters are the hapless
Charlie Brown. Politicians will say
virtually anything come election time in an attempt to convince us they’re
trustworthy—just as they’re doing now with energy and immigration issues.
The lie is that this time it’ll be different; they’ll deliver.
When confronted individually, incumbents always insist they agree with
our group’s views (whichever group they’re talking to at the moment that is)
and that they are the only ones standing up in the fight for us against all
those other unworthy politicians. Essentially,
we’re supposed to ignore past behavior and return them to office based on
their assurances that we’ll actually get to kick that football through the
uprights this time. But what
happens? Just as the gullible
Charlie Brown, we voters end up flat on our backs when Lucy pulls the football
away yet again.
This happens on many
issues but let’s use two current hot buttons as examples: dependency on
foreign oil and illegal immigration.
Remember the oil
crisis of the 70’s? Gas lines,
soaring prices and shortages plagued America.
What was every politician’s election year mantra?
“Energy independence” “We
are too dependent on foreign oil. We
must be self-sufficient.” What’s
changed since then? Effectively
nothing.
We knew then more
refineries were needed but what did our leaders do?
Rather than create incentives for business to build those facilities,
they buckled under to environmental groups creating even more regulatory
roadblocks and essentially making such construction prohibitive!
Result—America hasn’t built a new refinery in 30 years even as our
national demand for oil has increased annually!
Back then it was also
clear that additional sources of crude must be found so we could reduce levels
of imported oil. What did our
leaders do? Even though we knew
where to drill, congress prevented its exploitation surrendering again to
political pressure from environmental groups—ANWR, the gulf of Mexico, off
shore California and those vast deposits of oil shale remain untouched while our
demand skyrockets and our available supply dwindles.
Real smart isn’t it?
A Rand study reported
that in oil shale alone, the United States has enough recoverable reserves to
provide 25% of all our needs for 400 years or 100% of our needs for 100 years!
Are we tapping into that unimaginable resource? Not on your life.
President Clinton declared those oil shale lands untouchable.
We also knew in the
70’s that alternate sources of energy could be developed in sufficient
quantities to significantly supplement our need for crude.
What did we do? I think you
get the drift. Brazil on the other
hand saw the significance of those alternate sources and acted.
Today, Brazil is more energy independent than America!
At least fifty years
ago we knew about the potential of solar power.
As a young boy in the mid 1950’s, I visited Pittsburgh’s Buhl
Planetarium and saw an amazing little car.
It had black panels on the top and when a spotlight was shined on it the
car ran around the table. Since
then we’ve sent men to the moon, rovers to Mars, conquered polio and found the
Titanic but we haven’t advanced solar technology as we could or should have.
And what about using
wind power off the coast of Massachusetts?
Not in my backyard screams Ted Kennedy the environmental crusader!
After all these
long-lost opportunities, in 2006 we remain over that barrel of foreign oil and
still hearing the political promises of action to come. Although the names and faces change the words are the same,
“Trust me, this time it’ll be different.”
But Lucy’s hand remains firmly on that football and every election, we
believe and every election we end up like naïve Charlie Brown—flat on our
backsides; an industrialized nation dying of thirst for oil when it’s all
around us and untapped.
Now this unrestrained
invasion of the United States by illegals is not only another Charlie Brown
scenario, this one threatens the existence of our culture, our future and our
country. Again, our political
leaders weren’t just told about this incursion last week, they’ve known for
decades. In fact, Ronald Regan
granted amnesty to some 3-4 million in 1986 with the proviso that our borders
would be secured after this one time show of compassion. What happened? Effectively
nothing—sound familiar? Today
we have 12-20 million to deal with who are now demanding their “rights” and
even the return of American land they claim as their own!
Rights and land my foot, they don’t even belong here in the first place
yet our politicians pander to these invaders with promises of “pathways to
citizenship.” American voters
however are fed the same old line from incumbents running for
reelection—“Trust me.” I have
only two things to say about that: Bull…Chips.
This situation was
bad enough pre-9/11 but post 9/11 such inaction falls somewhere between criminal
negligence and subversion. When
spineless leaders won’t stand up for America and defend their homeland against
a Mexican government supported conquest, the people themselves must act!
And what happens when patriotic Minutemen take steps to protect our
country because the government won’t? Their
own president inexcusably calls them vigilantes while Washington orders our
Border Patrol to inform Mexican officials as to the whereabouts of Minutemen
outposts and patrols! When I think
of such betrayal, the word incensed only begins to describe the extent of
my disgust for those individuals responsible.
When a national
threat is known by our political leaders who are sworn to preserve protect and
defend and they do nothing beyond political window dressing to counter that
threat, rather they aid and abet the foreign government behind it, a clean sweep
of incumbents is absolutely necessary if America is to survive. In fact, their dereliction of duty deserves incarceration in
my opinion.
Politicians have
blamed environmentalists for our energy crisis and business in search of cheap
labor for the stream of illegals but I don’t buy it.
Environmental movements and business lobbies only have the power to
pressure, plead and contribute; political leaders have the exclusive
power to enact and enforce so the ultimate responsibility is theirs.
The buck stops with those having legal authority and the constitutional
power to act—period.
If America’s
leaders from every congress and administration over decades still haven’t
taken the action so obvious years ago, why do they now express made-for-TV concern and feign indignation over our continued
reliance on foreign oil and the impact of illegals on America?
Stupid is as stupid does seems to be the best answer.
They’re either too stupid to get it or too deceitful regarding their
globalist agenda for this continued disregard of common sense—your choice.
Whichever reason you favor, either one is enough to justify a good house
cleaning this year. My view is that
most incumbents, past and present, have been stupidly short-sighted, negligent,
disingenuous and far too addicted to the fantasy of global politics for
America’s own good. Politicians
have blown fog at us for years and it’s time we called them on it.
If nothing else, a significant clean sweep movement would send a
seriously powerful message to all future incumbents and perhaps encourage and
embolden Americans to act more courageously.
If I could bestow one
trait on America it would be the ability to discern truth. Imagine every voter with the insight to cut through the
political BS and the good sense to send Lucy to the showers. Wow!
Just the view from my
saddle…
Contact Colonel Dan:
coloneldan@bellsouth.net