Robert Owens
What Should Be Easy Isn't
By
Jun 25, 2008 - 10:28:41 AM

America stood for limited constitutional government of, by, and for the people.  America stood for freedom and opportunity.  That was then; this is now.

Instead of actually doing anything to help America gain energy independence, Congress holds dog-and-pony shows.  During a recent performance, John Hofmeister of Shell Oil had the nerve to say government-imposed restrictions on drilling were the problem.  This inspired Representative Maxine Waters (D-Cal) to challenge the oil executive “to guarantee the prices consumers pay will go down if the oil companies are allowed to drill wherever they want off of U.S. shores.”

Hofmeister replied: “I can guarantee to the American people, because of the inaction of the United States Congress, ever-increasing prices unless the demand comes down” and that “$5 a gallon at the pump will look like a very low price in the years to come if we are prohibited from finding new reserves, new opportunities to increase supplies.”

Waters responded, “And guess what this liberal would be all about. This liberal will be about socializing  . . . um . . . mm . . . Would be about, basically, taking over, and the government running all of your companies.”  

Mr. Hofmeister responded, “We’ve seen this before, in Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela.”

As if trying to prove our leaders think government is the answer to the problems government causes, Rep. Maurice Hinchey, (D-N.Y) recently joined Waters in calling for nationalization.  “We (the government) should own the refineries . . . Then we can control how much gets out into the market.”  

The desire to nationalize production is becoming a swelling chorus within the ranks of the perpetually elected in Washington.  For years, at least it was bait and switch, and we could say, “That’s not what they told me they were going to do!” before we trooped to the polls at re-election time.  Now they’re coming out in the open, from each according to his ability to each according to their need.  Raise taxes on the productive and free everything to everyone!  Like Juneteenth or the rapture, we’re to be free at last.  Yet for some strange reason, I keep thinking while you and I will wait in an endless line to see a nurse practitioner in a converted gymnasium, our selfless leaders will take private jets and limos to the Mayo Clinic.

Have we really come to the place in our country where politicians can openly call for the nationalization of the means of production with impunity?  Have we become so oblivious to the lessons of history, and I mean really recent history, like the collapse of the other world power that thought they could usher in a worker’s paradise a mere 17 years ago.  These policies have been tried and they’ve failed, because they don’t match human nature.  People are by nature more interested in what’s mine than what’s yours.  In sociology, it’s called the problem of the commons.  Unless someone is paid, most people do not take very good care of what belongs to everyone, because it’s someone else’s job.  And systems of collective ownership end up with bloated bureaucracies filled with mid-level make-work jobs while the rest of society laments, “They pretend to pay us, so we pretend to work.”

Sometimes watching American politics in the 21st century feels like walking through a carnival wondering, “How can I fall for that again?”  Find the pea under the shell.  Knock the bottles off the table.  Pick a card, any card.  When will we realize even if we win, the prize isn’t worth the cost of admission?  Just like all the TV deals with the pitchmen screaming, “AND THAT’S NOT ALL!”  The cost of the “handling” in the shipping and handling more than covers the cost of “THAT’S NOT ALL!”  

Have you ever watched something teetering on the edge of a table, knowing it was going to fall but not being able to get there in time to catch it?  For some, this is a recurring nightmare; others call it modern American political science.  How do we get our country back?  How do we restore limited government?  It reminds me of trying to walk across Rt. 10 as it careens through Chester at 5 p.m.  What should be easy isn’t.

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