Impeachment Distractions

            While the media’s attention is riveted on the Impeachment circus playing under the Senate’s big tent, it is paying little attention to four important developments elsewhere.

            Results in early primaries are driving Democrat party pooh-bahs into a panic at the increasing prospect of a Bernie Sanders coronation at July’s Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee. They fear this will result in a disaster for the party, not only in the re-election of Donald Trump, but in the defeat of federal and state office holders down the line. If Sanders eliminates his rival candidates in the early primary states, the pooh-bahs may have no choice but to turn to Michael Bloomberg to save the party, even as Hillary continues to remind voters that the crown really belongs to her.

            If it weren’t for President Trump drawing attention yet again to his genius at deal-making, the public would hardly be aware of his meeting with Israeli party leaders Netanyahu and Ganz to announce the “latest and greatest” two-state solution to the intractable conflict in the Promised Land. Unsurprisingly, Palestinian authorities rejected the plan even before they knew what was in it. Perhaps they will reconsider. Among other things, the plan calls for a tunnel between Gaza and the West Bank. That alone should get the attention of Hamas, world experts at building tunnels under enemy territory.

            As happens in every presidential year, Democrats must renew their fealty to Big Labor to ensure that their biggest donors will shower them with generous contributions to their re-election campaigns. Traditionally, these contributions have been massive, drawn from dues extracted from union members who may not support union causes. Unfortunately, dues fell precipitously after 27 states adopted Right-to-Work laws that give workers the right to opt out of unions and thus deny union bosses the funds meant for Democrat candidates. Ah! But the House of Representatives, now controlled by a Democrat majority, has a solution. Look for the House to resurrect the Protect the Right to Organize Act (or PRO Act) that would essentially reverse all the benefits workers enjoy in Right-to-Work states. This may not be the smartest move. Not only will the PRO Act never pass a Republican-controlled Senate, it will give Republicans more ammunition to convince workers that incestuous relations between unions and Democrats do not benefit workers.

            The coronavirus epidemic is sucking all the wind out of news from China. The media no longer dwells on demonstrations in Hong Kong. It no longer stresses the importance and enormous consequences of Taiwan’s pro-independence elections. And it is silent about the on-going atrocities perpetrated by the Chinese government against the Muslim Uighur majority in Xinjiang. A million souls have been re-located into prison camps to be “re-educated.” Resistors are being deprived of sleep and food. Others are tortured. Worse, some are killed for the purpose of harvesting their organs. Massive crematoria eliminate all traces of those who do not survive. We have recently marked the 75^th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camps, a worthy reminder of man’s inhumanity to man. Yet, I do not recall reading or seeing anything to demonstrate to us on this occasion that the Chinese are the Nazis of our time. In Xinjiang.

Trump - for Better of for Worse

            Some readers of this column have asked me why I have not commented on President Trump’s impeachment. I have my reasons, but I will set them aside for now and present my views, such as they are.

            I voted for Donald Trump in 2016. He was not the best Republican candidate at the time, but far better than the corrupt liar championed by the left. I believe a Hillary Clinton presidency would have been disastrous for this country, and I feel the same way about all the Democrats running for office now, even more so in the case of far-left candidates Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. So, I will vote for Trump again, although I wish the head of the Republican ticket were someone else.

            Donald J. Trump, in my opinion, is ethically, psychologically, and intellectually unfit to be president. His failures and his weaknesses are well known. But his record of success with the economy, with deregulation, and with judicial appointments argues for a second term, especially when we consider what would inevitably result from the election of a socialist.

            His record on trade and foreign policy, on the other hand, has been spotty at best. I shudder when I think of the most powerful man in the world getting his intelligence briefings from Fox News and telegraphing his strategic decisions on Twitter. In fact, I’m convinced that his abusive, impulsive, and shallow tweets reveal the essence of the man. Moreover, his out-size ego makes it impossible for him to accept the counsel of others far wiser and more experienced than he is, which explains why outstanding people like James Mattis, Rex Tillerson, and John Bolton are no longer at his side. Tillerson sealed his fate when he called the president a moron, but he may not have been very far off the mark.

            But should President Trump have been impeached? Absolutely not. The charges against him are bogus, the latest result of an unremitting war that has sought to destroy him since the day he was elected. I was pleased to learn that the president had appointed Alan Dershowitz and Ken Starr to his defense team. They have most clearly articulated the reasons why the articles of impeachment drawn up by the House do not meet the standards specified by the Constitution and why these charges should be summarily dismissed.

            That won’t happen, of course. Even though the president will not be convicted, Democrats will continue to do everything they can to drag out more witnesses to prolong their campaign of hatred and to further tarnish the president. In the end, there won’t be any winners, only losers: the presidency, Congress, the Constitution, and all Americans. We deserve better.

           

More Energy in 2020

            This is the year I become an octogenarian. One of the inevitable facts I must face in my advancing age is the loss of energy—my physical energy, to be sure, but also my mental faculties (some of my detractors insist the decline of the latter has been more acute). I admit my body and my mind just don’t work as well as they did when I was in my indefatigable twenties. Fortunately, waning energy is not a problem facing the United States. Just the opposite.

            As the world’s greatest consumer of energy, we have long relied on Middle East oil to supplement our own fossil fuel production. That is no longer the case. This blessed country of ours is now energy independent. Even better, we have become a major exporter of energy, an important factor in the administration of American foreign policy.

            This is no accident. It is largely the result of economic policies that have encouraged and rewarded the spirit of free enterprise. We have always had an abundance of natural resources, but it has taken people of genius and vision to exploit them and bring them to market. That genius is reflected, for instance, in the discovery of vast fields of shale oil and the development of methods like fracking to extract it.

            In spite of the opposition of radical environmentalists to fossil fuels, successive administrations have pursued balanced energy policies that rely on hydrocarbons to fill our gas tanks, heat our homes, and produce electricity to run our factories. These hydrocarbons account for 80% of our energy consumption (37% from petroleum, 29% from natural gas, and 14% from coal). The other 20% comes from nuclear power (9 %) and renewables (11%, including 3% from much-favored wind and solar). Imagine what would happen if we adopted the left’s Green New Deal and eliminated fossil fuels.

            Russia is one country that would love to see the United States go for the Green New Deal. This would guarantee Russia’s stranglehold on European countries that rely on Russian exports of liquid natural gas (LNG). Lithuania, for example, used to import LNG chiefly from Russia and paid through the nose for the privilege. No longer. Russia’s prices have dropped 40% since Lithuania started importing LNG from the United States.

            President Trump has been wise to let the outgoing Energy Secretary Rick Perry and his replacement Dan Brouilette pursue a sensible “All of the Above” energy policy that has achieved energy independence for this country and exported freedom in the form of LNG to 36 countries around the world. Much-maligned coal and nuclear will continue to generate about half of our electricity, while we supplement them with renewables that will play an increasing role in keeping our air clean.

            The United States is the largest energy producer and consumer in the world. But, of all the world’s advanced industrial nations, it is has also done the best job in controlling noxious emissions. That’s not a bad formula for 2020 and beyond. Signatories to the Paris Accord should take notice.

"All of the Above" Is the Right Answer

            This is the year I become an octogenarian. One of the inevitable facts I must face in my advancing age is the loss of energy—my physical energy, to be sure, but also my mental faculties (some of my detractors insist the decline of the latter has been more acute). I admit my body and my mind just don’t work as well as they did when I was in my indefatigable twenties. Fortunately, waning energy is not a problem facing the United States. Just the opposite.

            As the world’s greatest consumer of energy, we have long relied on Middle East oil to supplement our own fossil fuel production. That is no longer the case. This blessed country of ours is now energy independent. Even better, we have become a major exporter of energy, an important factor in the administration of American foreign policy.

            This is no accident. It is largely the result of economic policies that have encouraged and rewarded the spirit of free enterprise. We have always had an abundance of natural resources, but it has taken people of genius and vision to exploit them and bring them to market. That genius is reflected, for instance, in the discovery of vast fields of shale oil and the development of methods like fracking to extract it.

            In spite of the opposition of radical environmentalists to fossil fuels, successive administrations have pursued balanced energy policies that rely on hydrocarbons to fill our gas tanks, heat our homes, and produce electricity to run our factories. These hydrocarbons account for 80% of our energy consumption (37% from petroleum, 29% from natural gas, and 14% from coal). The other 20% comes from nuclear power (9 %) and renewables (11%, including 3% from much-favored wind and solar). Imagine what would happen if we adopted the left’s Green New Deal and eliminated fossil fuels.

            Russia is one country that would love to see the United States go for the Green New Deal. This would guarantee Russia’s stranglehold on European countries that rely on Russian exports of liquid natural gas (LNG). Lithuania, for example, used to import LNG chiefly from Russia and paid through the nose for the privilege. No longer. Russia’s prices have dropped 40% since Lithuania started importing LNG from the United States.

            President Trump has been wise to let the outgoing Energy Secretary Rick Perry and his replacement Dan Brouilette pursue a sensible “All of the Above” energy policy that has achieved energy independence for this country and exported freedom in the form of LNG to 36 countries around the world. Much-maligned coal and nuclear will continue to generate about half of our electricity, while we supplement them with renewables that will play an increasing role in keeping our air clean.

            The United States is the largest energy producer and consumer in the world. But, of all the world’s advanced industrial nations, it is has also done the best job in controlling noxious emissions. That’s not a bad formula for 2020 and beyond. Signatories to the Paris Accord should take notice.