California Conservative

In 1995, Bill Clinton had the opportunity to sign a bill that would’ve allowed drilling on ANWR’s Coastal Plain. He vetoed the bill, creating the mantra of not ruining the “pristine wilderness’ found in ANWR. Among other things, Bill Clinton took other oil-laden federal lands offlimits via executive order. The simple truth is that this is a well-planned ‘crisis’ of choice. We all remember Obama’s saying that $4 a gallon gas wasn’t too expensive; it’s just that it reached that price faster than he would’ve liked.

This ‘crisis’ was completely avoidable. Democrats chose this crisis because they supported policies that put huge known oil reserves offlimits.

During the 2004 presidential election, John Kerry promised that he’d filibuster any bill that permitted drilling in ANWR. That’s been the Democrats’ position for at least a decade.

Which leads us to today’s high gas prices. Clinton could claim, feebly in my opinion, that ‘ruining’ ANSWR’s pristine wilderness wasn’t worth it when oil was being traded at $10 a barrel. Since oil isn’t being sold at $10 a barrel anymore, doesn’t it seem wise to change policy? I posted a quote from John Maynard Keynes in this post:

When asked why he changed his position on an issue, John Maynard Keynes said: “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?”

The Democrats have given us their answer. Unfortunately, they aren’t as smart as Mr. Keynes. The facts changed, Democrats didn’t.

BTW, that pristine wilderness that Bill Clinton and Democrats after him don’t want destroyed isn’t as pristine as they’d have us believe. Certainly, we’ve seen pictures like this: (more…)