Leftist Democrats (which means too many of them, sadly, but, thankfully, not all) are fond of saying:
You Can’t Drill Your Way Out Of High Gas Prices
But they do think that:
They Can TAX Their Way Out Of Them
It is, of course, an idiotic notion that taxing oil companies will cause them to produce more energy, oil, alternative, or anything else. It will certainly induce them to pass along the cost of the taxes at the pump. It is probably impossible to point to any time/place when a tax on something has resulted in more of the activity being taxed.
There are several misunderstandings about drilling, existing oil leases, Republican vs. Democrat tendencies and roles, etc., addressed here. I wonder how many people complaining about high gas prices now remember that Bill Clinton vetoed drilling in ANWR and other places when a Republican Congress passed him a bill to do so, in 1995, saying that it wouldn’t make any difference for ten years anyway.
This is not a bash Clinton moment, it is a sober “let’s assess the Left’s contribution to our current problem” moment. Incredibly, they are saying the same thing NOW. I heard Obama say on TV today that if we drill now, it won’t help for 10 years. If we’re fooled a second time, we deserve to mortgage our homes to fill our tanks with gas.
There have been several polls indicating that solid majorities of Americans believe we should drill, and do it now.
Investor’s Business Daily quotes a few, and makes some other points. Read the whole thing.
An online petition circulated by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s American Solutions group and urging Congress to “Drill Here, Drill Now” so consumers can “Pay Less” has reached 1 million signatures.
Meanwhile, a new Reuters/Zogby poll found that 60% of the public is in favor of increased drilling and refining, while two-thirds responding to a Rasmussen poll, including 46% of those who call themselves liberal, think drilling should be allowed offshore.
Not to be outdone, a Gallup poll discovered that 57% are in favor of a new wave of drilling “in U.S. coastal and wilderness areas now off limits.”
It seems Americans are well aware that members of Congress, not the oil executives they’ve demonized for decades, are to blame for the punitive prices we are having to pay at the gas pump. They want lawmakers to do something about it.
Polls with this kind of tilt in favor of, say, leaving Iraq, are given huge play in the media. But if you think we should drill, and don’t know why we aren’t, you may think you’re in the minority, and wonder why. The news is that a strong majority agrees with you. Now, what will you do about it?
Drill Here. Drill Now. Pay Less.
