The "R" Word - Campaign 2008

On December 27 I posted a Blog that asked two questions of every candidate running for the Office of President of the United States. Briefly stated the questions were:

• What will you do to resolve the illegal citizens in the United States of America?
• How will you bring a rapid conclusion to the War on Terrorism?

Yet most of the hyberpole I have heard as we all witnessed the Iowa Caucus and the first primary in New Hampshire related to how people in this United States of America needed to have their needs met.

During the last few days we are beginning to hear the dreaded "R" word. Is it possible that our great Nation will under go a Recession? While I am not an economic expert by any stretch of the imagination, I do know that if the citizens of this Nation continue to expend more and more of their income for energy (gasoline for transport to the workplace) there will of course be fewer dollars available for the other necessary items to support life. Thus, it is quite possible and also most probable that a recession will soon be here.

Yet, our Nation's esteemed lawmakers continue to ignore the obvious. We have an abundance of oil in the Gulf of Mexico, we have oil that can be pumped out of the sub-strata under Alaska. We also lack refining capacity to process an abundance of crude; but we do have the technology to build new infrastructure. When will we realize that some of our own current policies simply make us very vulnerable to the oil rich countries in this world? If we start drilling in the Gulf and in Alaska it will send a message to these foreign powers that we are indeed looking forward to supplying more of our own oil. Thus the price of oil in the world wide market will decrease as we show everyone that we will not be a victim to their pricing schemes.

Additionally, we can use Nuclear Power to supply energy for our homes, businesses and factories. It is a fact that we have the technology and the trained nuclear plant operators. Our great nation has several Nuclear Powered Air Craft Carriers and an abundance of Nuclear Powered Submarines. We submit our finest young men and women to the alledged dangers of Nuclear Power, yet we refrain from building more Nuclear Power Plants. I would think that if Nuclear Power is good enough for them, that it would be also safe for us. I know for a fact that several of these Nuclear Powered Aircraft Carriers are currently in ports in the United States of America. We rely on young men and women in their early twenties to operate these Nuclear Power Plants. These young men and women have done so in a safe manner for many years now, yet we are reluctant to build new Nuclear Power Plants for generation of power here in the United States of America.

Yes, our Lawmakers have us over a barrel. At this time it also looks as if we are all over a barrel of oil as we procure gasoline for transportation to our jobs. Or as in the case of the Flower Child who is in retirement, for those errands necessary to enjoy the fruits of his previous labors. The Flower Child also expends fuel to do his weekly Marketing for food stuffs.

We can also appreciate the energy requirements of the plethora of candidates campaign buses, their respective staffs and all the volunteers who expend their own personal resources to support the candidate of their choice.

So the question we all should be asking today of each candidate is:

"What will you do to resolve the energy crisis in the United States of America?"

or maybe we should add one more question for ourselves:

"When will we, - We the People - stop electing members of the House and the Senate who continue to serve themselves and their subsequent re-elections by actually facing the difficult choices we must face and also resolve?"

All of this stated by the Flower Child today to simply point out that unless our Nation's Lawmakers face the facts, we will have a recession and it will be soon. This also makes the plethora of candidates seeking the Office of President of the United States of America a bit nervous.