*** ORBUSMAX GUEST OP/ED ***

Invent Some Common Sense - By Justin Darr

May 31, 2004

I have great news for all Americans who are fed up with high gas prices. Presidential Candidate John Kerry has announced his sure-fire plan to end our dependence on foreign oil, save the environment, and lower energy prices. You ready? Somebody has to invent something. Wow, and here all along I was misguidedly thinking that we would have to do something crazy like build the first new oil refineries in the United States in over 30 years and explore domestic sources of oil production. Shows you how much I know. So, you heard the Senator, America. Rush on out to your garage and get to work on discovering America's new miracle fuel! While you are at it, I hope that at least one of you could find the time to invent some common sense for Mr. John Kerry. Trust me, he needs it.

Americans are suffering with high gas prices for many reasons; however, one of the chief culprits is Liberal Environmentalism. As I stated before, the United States has not built a new oil refinery in over 30 years. Why? Because whenever an evil oil company tries to get the permits and approvals to build, Charlie Sheen shows up and chains himself to a tree. Massive oil reserves off the Gulf Coast, California, Florida, and in Alaska are not allowed to be tapped because the Greater Northwest Hairless Snot Rat might have to walk around them. And, every local Liberal politician thinks they need to reinvent the wheel and legislate some unique fuel additive that they believe will make car exhaust smell like daffodils. It is supply and demand, my friends. You cannot limit supply and production in the face of rising demand and expect prices to go anywhere but up.

Liberals have even stymied efforts at developing alternative fuel sources. When power companies proposed building advanced windmills off the coasts of New England in order to generate clean, free, electrical power, the Liberal elites when berserk because these new windmills would obstruct their view of the ocean. I can see it now, "I say there, boy. Isn't there somewhere you can put those contraptions where only poor people live? Now stop staring at me with your mouth open and find some cheap, clean alternative fuel sources, you rapist of the environment, you. Tuffy, get one of the hands to bring the Navigator around, this peasant is making me late for my Sierra Club meeting!" Liberals refuse to understand that in order to upgrade and develop America's energy sources, somebody just might have to build something, and that process just might require that we cut down a tree. These facts are simple reality and common sense. However, Liberals have always been challenged to understand these concepts.

Speaking of a failure to understand concepts, John Kerry's plan to place our energy hopes into the hands of some mystery scientist's hypothetical invention of a new wonder fuel shares much more in common with a bad joke than an actual policy proposal. Does Senator Kerry actually believe this, or does he just think that we are gullible enough to buy it? The fact is that America's ending it dependence on fossil fuels in favor of any new alternative fuel source is decades away no matter what the circumstances.

Many cheap alternative fuels exist today, but none are widely used. Propane produces the green house gas nitrous oxide in such high levels that it makes a '72 Plymouth with no muffler look like a clean energy source. Electric hybrids. Take one for a test drive, good luck merging into traffic. Diesel, hope you do not have to go uphill. Other fuels are actually more expensive than the gasoline we buy today. Aside from the performance issues and the lack of availability of alternative fuels is the fact that we do not own cars that can operate with these fuels. How many of you own an HDTV? Well, you better start saving your pennies because the government has decided that you are going to have to have one in the next few years if you want to watch your local weather report. The FCC has decided that it wants to resell the current analog UHF and VHF frequencies that television broadcasters currently use, so it is forcing all broadcasters to switch to digital signals. The problem is that HDTV technology is very expensive and not many Americans are willing to drop a few grand for a new TV when their old one is working. What makes anyone think that if Americans are not willing to buy new television sets that they would be willing to buy new cars?

John Kerry's proposal of developing alternative fuels as a short-term solution to our current energy problems is his way of saying he has no idea of how to lower gas prices. He does not have an energy policy of any kind, however, he will not allow that to stop him from demonizing President Bush. As the weeks to the November Election roll by, it is becoming increasing obvious that John Kerry has nothing to offer America other than criticism of the President. No ideas, no beliefs that he will hold for more than a few weeks, no values, no future for America. American voters look for ideas and solutions from their Presidential Candidates, if they want to hear mindless complaints and personal attacks on George Bush, they will go to the "New York Times".

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Justin Darr lives with his wife and twin children in the Philadelphia area where he is an executive manager for a national company. You can see all of his work each week on TheFence.com, TheRant.us, TheRealityCheck.org, RightTurns.com and several other local and national publications.