Conservatives have traditionally been for...

I just heard something on Houston 740 AM radio. The caller said:

“Conservatives have traditionally been for smaller government, balancing budgets with controlled spending and strong international alliances...

…And we have NONE of that.”

I have to agree with the caller. Spending is out of control. The border is out of control. Government hiring since 2000 has exceeded that of the last Democratic administration. Lobbyists have doubled in the last 4 years to over 35,000. And we’ve plunged into a costly war while refusing to pay for it like past generations have.

And much of what we are borrowing is foreign sourced. If it dries up, the bottom really falls out of this house of cards.

None of this strikes me as conservative or good for our country. So why aren’t more Republicans demanding some common sense changes in what is happening? Why aren’t more people realizing the emperor U.S. has lost most of its financial clothes? We are in deep debt while still spending like drunken sailors. I do not desire to be the lone voice crying in the wilderness.

What is happening is not good for our kids or our future. It is diminishing our future prosperity.

Congress passed an “Energy Bill” that does a few things good like encourage renewables but is bloated with national pork – which might be survivable except that it misses the two key things needed. It neither (1) cuts our gas consumption by encouraging conservation nor (2) increases the refining needed to meet growing gas demand.

More hybrids and refineries would help solve that. Our leaders are pushing neither solution.

In a world in which China and India are growing fast and need some of the same global oil we need, it is an unwise foreign policy that forces us down the road to future global wars and shifting alliances over oil. It has already put us in bed with some nasty governments. We were Saddam’s largest oil customer before the war!

This is true especially if our use of conservation and alternative energy sources could avoid that lose-lose scenario.

Conservation and increased mileage in cars are things we can do immediately that cut the billions we send to countries like Saudi that are not democratic. This is conservative in my opinion. But it is not happening.

In and near this Congressional district are the BP plants that have had 3 or 4 explosions (one loses count) in the past 4 months. An engineer claims that the newest equipment on our refineries is often 30 years old! This lack of updating of our technology has refineries running over 95% capacity. This is asking for gas shortage trouble and is causing today’s pain at the pump.

This has occurred under leadership in office for over 20 years.

It would not take much to be an improvement.

I believe our leaders are supposed to plan ahead – we should already have our astronauts in second-generation machines instead of 30-year-old Shuttles running 70’s technology. We should already have additional refining sources to avoid these sharp spikes in gas pricing.

Our leaders should have known that wild spending and tax cuts that benefit only the top few per cent is not going to stimulate a broad group of Americans. I talk to people every day in the Houston area that can’t pay their bills because of gas and medical costs.

I believe in balanced budgets, planning ahead, smaller government, controlled spending, higher technology and putting people ahead of lobbyists.

If you agree with me I need your contribution (and your friends) today at the website.