Leftism and Amnesia

I suppose it's possible to be a liberal Democrat in America without amnesia, but significant memory loss sure makes your life easier.  Democrats seem to have this unfortunate disorder, causing them to believe that recorded history began somewhere between November of 2000 and January of 2001.

If you don't believe me, look at the Democrats number one talking point, "Bush lied!"  The Democrats' statements about the threat of Saddam Hussein and his WMD programs throughout the 1990s and up into this century has been spread over the web ad nauseum, so I won't repeat it.  What about the Democrats' claim, though, that Bush "lied" about Saddam's dealings with Al Qaeda.  Idiots like John Conyers and Nancy Pelosi repeatedly make the statement that Saddam had no ties to Al Qaeda and that Bush made the phony connection to justify "his" war.

Let's go back a few years, though.  Do you remember Bill Clinton blowing up an aspirin factory in Sudan in 1998?  What do you think the reason was?  It was because the Clinton Administration had evidence that Saddam's WMD experts were working with Al Qaeda to create weapons for terrorists to use.  You don't believe me?  Check Clinton's Defense Secretary, William Cohen's testimony before the 911 Commission.  Cohen is nominally a Republican and must not be affected by the amnesia.

Democrat amnesia is also exhibited in discussions about socialized medicine.  What is one of the main reasons that Democrats such as Teddy Kennedy give for saying the current system is broken?  Greedy HMOs.  Health maintenance organizations deny coverage, inflate costs and take medical decisions out of the hands of doctors.  You've heard all the complaints.  Guess who was the father of the HMO?  Yep, old Teddy himself.  In the early 1970s, the owner of Ted's Driving and Diving School, put together the legislation that led to HMOs.

As a side note, Ted also "fixed" the immigration problem in the mid 1960s.  I suspect he doesn't remember that either.

More evidence of this mass loss of memory is the Democrats' mantra that Vice President Cheney's Energy Task Force led to Enron's rape of California and the fraud committed by  Enron's officers and directors.  If you look at the calendar, you will see that Enron's price gouging in California began in 2000 and was over by the summer of 2001.  President Bush's energy proposals hadn't even come up for a vote.  Nothing that Cheney's group proposed had any actual effect on ANYTHING that Enron did or didn't do.  Apparently, though, the Democrats don't even remember who was President in 2000.

I know that someone is going to try to claim that Republicans suffer from this selective loss of memory as well.  No doubt, someone will say "what about statements by Cheney and Condoleeza Rice in early 2001, that Saddam was contained and no threat?"  That these officials changed their tune wasn't a result of memory loss.  It was a result of 9/11.  Oh yeah, I forgot, the Democrats don't even remember 9/11.  Hell, sometimes I wonder if they remember they're Americans.

Politicians Play On Voters' Ignorance

To paraphrase H. L. Mencken, no one has ever lost an election by underestimating the intelligence of the voting public.  This truism has once again been made apparent by the pandering of politicians in response to the recent jumps in oil prices.  There are several reasons why oil prices have increased, none of which seem to be able to penetrate the brain of the average American voter.

First, demand for oil worldwide has increased rapidly in recent years.  India and China have developed an insatiable thirst for petroleum and, as a result, altered the landscape of the oil buying marketplace.  Further, supply is down, no not primarily because of the war in Iraq, but because of other factors such as unrest in Nigeria and the damage to refining centers caused by Katrina.  Lower supply and higher demand equal higher prices whether you're talking about oil, food or cocaine.  Supply and demand is the basis of all economic theory, but the politicians know that the American public is oblivious to simple economics.

Enviroworshippers are also to blame for reduced supply.  Burdensome regulations enacted at the urging of tree huggers have succesfully stopped the building of new refineries for the past 30 years.  The kooks have also prevented oil companies from exploring for oil in and around the United States, not just in ANWR but also in the Gulf of Mexico.

In spite of all this, we have politicians getting on the news daily shrieking about "excessive", "outrageous", "uncontrolled" profits being made by the oil companies.  Memo to the American public (although I know you won't listen):  Oil is a commodity.  It is traded just like cattle futures, grain and the like.  There is no fat man in a smoke filled room named "Big Oil" unilaterally setting prices.

Additionally, profits aren't what the politicians are pretending they are.  Yes, Exxon/Mobil made gross profits of $36 billion last year.  So the hell what?  Who incurred the costs and risks required to drill for, refine and transport that oil?  The government?  Not hardly.  In any event, the actual net profit was less than ten cents on every dollar sold.  Hello ignorant American voter!  Check and see if that small a mark-up would be acceptable for most other businesses.  It won't.

In spite of truth, logic and common sense, we have Democrats wanting to stick it to "Big Oil" and Republicans afraid to tell the American people how stupid the Democrats are.  In the meantime, the willfully blind American voter falls for the propaganda.  The truth is that if the Federal government wants to stabilize energy costs, it needs to get the hell out of the way and allow the ingenuity and determination of the American people to take over combined with a healthy dose of profit incentive.  In other words, let the market handle this.

The United States has raised two or three generations of crybabies that expect the Federal government to kiss boo boos and wipe away tears.  The politicians pander to that mentality.  If it keeps up, in another generation or two, the United States won't be worth saving.  We need to fight the stupidity NOW.