1Declaration: Free Markets, Free People, Free Minds

Currently in the Senate floor politicians are debating the devastating Lieberman-Warner bill that would have a negligible impact on the environment on speculative science. Libertarian Presidential nominee and former GOP Georgia Congressman Bob Barr has issued his own statement about this bill.

Please take a moment to let Congress know that this bill is not in the best interest of the United States. Sign AmericanSolutions.com, Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less petition now.

Don't Wreck the Economy In the Name of the Environment Barr Says

June 5, 2008 2:37 pm EST

Despite the many predictions of doom, "the science of climate change remains highly complex," he says. There has been no warming over the last decade and scientists disagree over how much warming is likely in the future.

To respond to purely speculative problems, Lieberman-Warner would mandate an emission cut of 70 percent by 2050, a virtual impossibility. "It would be hard enough to hold energy use constant with a growing population," he notes. "every additional person needs food, transportation, and housing."

Energy prices would soar. Hundreds of thousands or millions of jobs would be lost. Barr points to a study by the Congressional Budget Office which warns that the Senate bill would hike energy costs $1300 per household, effectively a $1 trillion tax hike over the next decade. "Estimates of the potential GDP loss run into the trillions of dollars," he explains.

Yet climatologists like Dr. Patrick Michaels figure that Lieberman-Warner would cut potential future warming by only .013 degrees (Celsius), "an amount hard to even measure," says Barr. It makes far more sense "to adapt to challenges as they develop than to commit economic suicide to prevent problems that are unlikely to occur."

To read the entire article click here.

See what other people are saying about the high gas prices. You are not the only one that is hurting. You are not the only one that is frustrated. Take a brief moment to go to the Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less petition and let your voice be heard.

Since I started this blog I have posted numerous times about the FairTax, how it works, and its benefits.

The FairTax is a complete overhaul of our tax system that replaces all income, payroll, capital gains, death, and gift taxes in favor of national sales tax. This means that you will receive your full paycheck every pay day (an average of 25%) more. Every citizen of the United States will receive a prebate each month dependent on family size to refund the taxes that would be paid on spending up to the poverty level so no person has to pay for taxes for the basic necessities of life.

The Fair Tax would eliminate the 22% embedded tax rate place in every item you buy and replace it with a 23% sales tax. The FairTax allows you to save without penalty, allows you to work harder without penalty, and directly taxes wealth. Because of the prebate, those who are able to afford less will pay fewer taxes. A family who spends only twice the poverty level will have a tax rate of only 11.5%, a family that spends at the poverty level will have a tax rate of 0%, and a family that spends large sums of money will have a tax rate of 23%.

The FairTax allows you more voice in how the federal government operates. If you do not want to pay taxes you can spend choose to spend only up to the poverty level and will pay no taxes because of the prebate. If you do not like what the government is doing simply reduce your spending and you reduce your tax payment. With the FairTax, taxation becomes voluntary.

Please visit Georgia Congressman JohnLinder.com and sign his petition to become a citizen co-sponsor of the this important legislation. When presented on the floor of the House of Representatives you can take part in history by adding your name.

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Message to the House of Representatives:

I am tired of worrying about confusing tax forms and stacks of tattered receipts, and frustrated that our tax code continues to undermine our nation’s values of saving and investment.

I want to be a “Citizen Co-Sponsor” of the FairTax — legislation that will create a national retail sales tax to replace all income taxes, payroll taxes, and estate taxes, and eliminate the need for the Internal Revenue Service entirely. The FairTax would revolutionize our economy. Without the income tax’s stifling impediment to growth, Americans will be able to save more, and businesses will be able to invest more. Individuals will have incentives to engage in capital formation - the real source of job creation and innovation - more than ever before. Businesses will have incentives to direct large amounts of capital back into the United States.

I want you to know that I am enthusiastic about this bill and its prospects for success, and I want all of our Representatives to join us in this fight.

I endorse the FairTax and I want you to help make April 15th just another spring day.

YOUR NAME HERE

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For more information on the FairTax please visit my blog posts from March and April of 2008 or visit FairTax.org.

Make your declaration!

At the time of this post over 360,000 concerned and outraged Americans have signed AmericanSolutions.com Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less petition. Is it having an effect though?

A report that came out a few days ago points out that support for the bill may be waning. Take a moment to read this article on CNNMoney.com about the declining support of the Warner-Lieberman bill. I only hope that this report is true.

If you haven't signed the petition yet please take 30 seconds of your time to let Congress know that this bill is not in the best interest of Americans. Then take a moment to email your Senators. If you want to find out more about the devastating effects of this bill before signing please check out some of my previous articles.

The American Left: Just Not Getting It
A Government of Special Interests, by Special Interests, and for Special Interests

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Former US President and Democrat states that "I think it'd be the worst mistake he could make."

Listen to this audio with Jimmy Carter on this issue.

For more information visit this article by Guardian

In an article by Townhall columnist Walter Williams, he asks the question if Congress is just dumb or ill-informed regarding energy policy.

My answer is simple, they are dumb, uninformed, and out of touch with reality and the American people. Recently Congress, mainly those of the American Left paraded the CEO's from the largest oil companies and gouged them on the amount of money they make, the profits the company makes, and the alleged ill practices that they have engaged in to make these profits. Yet time and again nothing is found. Why do they keep doing this then?

The answer is simple, they want to be a hero to millions of Americans. They want the appearance that they are doing something without looking into their own voting record to see the problem. The problem I point to is government over regulation.

As Williams points out the Cubans are allowing China to drill closer to the US coast than US oil companies can. 85% of the coastal oil fields are inaccessible because of government regulation. If all the oil reserves in the United States would be accessible the US would jump "from 11th place to fourth among the countries with proven oil reserves, " according to Sterling Burnett a writer for the Houston Chronicle in an article on May 21, 2008 titled "We don't have to take $4 gas--we can drill.

We have heard a number of different plans to reduce oil prices. One idea has been to remove the federal gas tax and then force the oil companies to pay a windfall profits tax. This was supported by none-other than ex-presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. She claimed it would help reduce the cost at the pump. Maybe she forgets the 1980's windfall profit taxes which reduced domestic output of oil by 3-6% and increased our dependency on oil between 8-16%. If Hillary is not ill-informed than she is just plain dumb.

Then of course we have the potential environmental impact. As Walter Williams points out again the caribou are thriving and have increased their population in the Prudhoe Bay area. We have the technology to drill in pristine areas with only a minimal footprint in these areas. Environmentalists have crippled us in getting oil due to overblown fears and lies like global warming alarmist Al Gore, make of An Inconvenient Truth.

So what is the answer? Are politician dumb or ill-informed?

I would say they are dumb for buying into environmentalists propaganda, ill-informed for suggesting higher taxes on energy, out of touch with the hurt most Americans are feeling, and are plain arrogant. If these Congressmen were really in touch with Americans and not tied to special interests they would open up drilling, open up for the building of new refineries, allow the building of nuclear plants, and would simply step out of the way.

Politicians are always after more power. This is the other answer. By making energy harder to come by, politicians get more power and make you more dependent on them. This is the goal of the American left who wants to remove the freedom of choice from your lives on economic issues. By increasing dependence they will increase their chance of getting elected.

This point was noted in Alexander Tytler's, The Decline and Fall of the Athenian Republic.

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until voters discover...they can vote themselves [generous benefits] from the public treasury. From that moment, the majority always votes for candidates promising them the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship.

Get Informed and Make Your Declaration

Check out my article on how the federal government is a "government of special interests, by special interests, and for special interests."

Let the government know you are tired of this. Sign the petition to Dill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less to stop the devastating Warner-Lieberman bill. This bill will drive up gas prices $.41 to $1 a gallon, decrease domestic production, create job loss on the order of up to 4 million jobs, and increase the cost of all forms of traditional energy production for the benefit of special interests and lobbyists in Washington D.C. Then take a moment to send your Congressman an email and tell them to vote no!

Make your declaration!

Sources

(1) "Dumb or Ill-Informed," by Walter Williams, Townhall, 4 June 2008.