Posted 8/4/2008

ENERGY AND THE WOODEN-HEADED MR. REID

Harry Reid is the majority leader of the U.S. Senate. Lately, it seems his head is made out of wood – extra hard oak.

You see, Harry opposes the idea of drilling for more oil in the most promising parts of the U.S. and its offshore areas. He and many of his fellow Democrats aren't particularly worried about the high price of gasoline.

Harry doesn't want to add to oil supply by drilling for it. He's more in favor of other energy forms like wind (he produces a lot of it) and solar (it's good for his August vacation tan).

Just before the August recess, Harry yelled, "The Republicans are fixating on 19th-century fuel!"

He thought he was referring to oil. But oil played no real part in America's remarkable growth in the 19th century (1800 to 1899).

From 1800 to 1875, wood was America's dominant fuel. We burned it and we built with it. It wasn't until 1875 that coal surpassed wood as our leading energy form.

America became the world's largest economy powered by wood, coal, water (remember all those lumber mills?) and wind (sailing ships). Oil was of little or no consequence.

Automobiles are one of the largest users of oil, but (listen and learn, Harry!) the American auto industry didn't even exist in the 19th century. We were a horse country until the railroad boom started in 1850 and flourished until the 1950s, when President Eisenhower's national highway system caused a boom in trucking and passenger car driving.

Actually, Harry, coal remained our dominant fuel until 1950, when it was finally overtaken by oil.

So listen up, Harry. If Republicans are fixated on oil, as you charge, you should call it a "latter 20th century" fixation.

But I suppose that would not provide the kind of provocative hyperbole you and Ms. Pelosi seem to thrive on. Sounding like a return from a bad LSD trip, she opposes drilling, claiming, "I am here to save the planet." (Actually, Nancy, that's Al Gore's job.)

It's bad enough to find that our kids don't know anything about American history, but for the leaders of the Senate and House to be ignorant of America's energy history is a little over the top.

These two are so bad, it's almost enough to make you want to vote Republican.

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