A few days ago Harry Reid stood up on the floor of the Senate and said that oil was making America sick. Harry Reid was wrong, as he was wrong when he said the war in Iraq was lost, when he said the surge wasn’t working, and when he used the power of his position to attack a private citizen, Rush Limbaugh. At least some good came out of that when Rush auctioned off his letter and gave the proceeds to the families of veterans killed in Iraq. What matters is that Senator Reid is symptomatic of the position the entire Democrat party takes today. Contrary to Harry Reid’s statement that oil is a pathogen; the ability to develop an inexpensive energy source has fueled America’s ability to become the world’s refuge and philanthropist, bootstrapping the human race to the edge of greatness. Oil allowed us to avoid denuding our nation of wood and coal, which in the early stages of technology actually could have harmed our health. Far from making us ill, oil was the catalyst driving the reaction that combined freedom, individualism and ingenuity, a timely constitution, virtually limitless natural resources, faith and the best entrepreneurs the world had to offer into the amazing nation we are today. Not a flawless nation, but one able to recognize and fix our flaws over time.

Harry and the progressive fringe have a fundamentally flawed vision of what America is and where we should be going. If you are a part of that fringe element you are a part of the problem, not part of the solution. To continue your old ways of blocking development in the vain hope that you can re-engineer society to your 5 (or 10 or 15) year plan will inevitably lead to the decline and decay of America. Progressive goals are fundamentally different from my goals for America. I want my children and grandchildren to experience the same country as our ancestors did, warty and wonderful as it is. Progressives want to internationalize us, to involve government as the solution to our problems, to make “changes they can believe in”, to ask countries who are envious of us what we should do! Unfortunately that means our pesky constitution must go, we can’t turn over control of our society to various international bodies without running afoul of the most remarkable governing document in a thousand years. Hence the proclamations that the constitution is a “living document”, because it is far easier to incrementally change the constitution than convince two thirds of the population that it’s “outmoded” and has to go. That might even provoke a revolution! Fundamentally, that is the basis of “Bush Derangement Syndrome”, because president Bush’s goals are far more in tune with mine than the progressives. This, I believe is why Democrats refuse to allow us to develop our domestic energy resources, because it is in their interest to destroy our economy so government would have an excuse to expand it’s control over us.

It is appropriate that I write this letter on the date we declared our independence from an unresponsive government 232 years ago. Fully three quarters of Americans want to develop our domestic energy resources, to develop offshore oil fields, ANWR, our incredibly vast reserves of coal, modern nuclear power, oil from our thousand year shale resources. Most of us have been asking for over ten years why we are not allowed to continue development like every other industry dependent country on earth does. We have to let the rest of the world know we are serious about taking charge of our own destiny. When we do, the price of crude will drop by half, just like it did in 1974. Too bad we didn’t follow through then! What that will do is give us some economic breathing room, buy us some time to let American ingenuity work out an alternative to fossil fuel. An instant alternative for oil doesn’t exist, not biofuel, not solar and especially not wind power. Solar in conjunction with hydrogen can contribute, but not significantly for decades. A reduction in domestic demand for oil by utilizing alternative energy sources along with opening new domestic fields can bring us independence from foreign supplies; but only if we start now!

The Democrats are in control of Congress and have accomplished nothing, their stonewalling has brought our economy to the brink of recession and still they have no solutions, only blame for the administration. If they continue to be mesmerized by the cult of global warming they will destroy the economic stability of America’s retiree’s living on a fixed income, and that includes me, so I have a very personal stake in this fight! It is especially frustrating for me, I have a scientists view of the climate change issue and how unscrupulous people are using it for political gain.

We have been protected for seven years from attack by Islamic terrorists by President Bush’s aggressive actions, forcing the terrorists to flock to Iraq, where Osama Bin Laden declared he would crush America – and where we have thoroughly defeated him on the battlefield of our choosing. Thank God for our armed forces! Our job now is to make sure a defeatist congress doesn’t surrender for political reasons! Unfortunately the fact that we have not been attacked on our home ground since 9/11/2001 has allowed you Dem’s to ignore the fact that we are at war and get away with it!

My challenge to you, Patty Murray, is to show that you have the courage of your convictions, to debate me on the issues, to defend your lack of solutions, to convince me you aren’t following your fellow lemmings over the cliff. DO NOT send me one of your form letters, if you are convinced your path is righteous, challenge me on the issues, defend your inaction, defend your allegiance to the envirolooneys.

Yes I could have been more respectful, but the fact is you have to earn respect by your actions, and your actions have not been respectful to your job, your actions have not been what we elected you to accomplish. My claim at the beginning of this letter was that Harry Reid, your Senate party leader, was wrong. Further, I will assert that he is a fool, because only a fool would continue to make such blatantly false statements as he has.