And God Bless Marco Rubio

There’s a good reason why a lot of conservatives want Marco Rubio to enter the presidential Republican primaries, and why he is an almost universal choice for the second spot among the same people. He’s young. He’s dynamic. His conservative credentials are excellent. He appeals to people of almost every ethnic group. But most of all, he says what he means, clearly, concisely and without unnecessary nuance.

Recently, Rubio addressed America’s unnecessary energy problems. “In the meantime, why would we tie our own hands behind our back if we are competing with other economies? You know, the Chinese will drill a hole anywhere they can get their hands on.” Lest the wind Nazis, solar fascists and ecoweenies jump on that statement, he added: “Now I’m not saying we have to be like them, but I am saying that we’re an energy rich country and conservatism, which is grounded in common sense says that if you’re an energy rich country you need to use the energy that God has blessed your nation with.”

Now there’s an energy policy I can get behind. I don’t need a sixty page exposition and a five-year, five hundred page environmental impact report to understand what the Senator is saying, let alone what he means. We are supporting Middle East and South American oppressive regimes by purchasing oil that we could produce ourselves. Onshore, offshore, and just about everywhere, we have coal, oil and natural gas reserves that could make us energy-independent in a very short period of time historically. We don’t even have to get into the nuclear power debate with this many natural resources available to us, and in addition we have huge hydroelectric potential.

So, as the Senator says, why don’t we use it? “We can have clean air and we can have clean water, but we also can have some sanity.” For this reason, Rubio says it must be a basic conservative principle that America needs regulatory reform—now. And he nails his position down succinctly by comparing it to that of the Obama administration. “They don’t have an energy policy, but rather they have ‘energy politics.’ ”

Never was a truer word spoken. While this administration threw millions of taxpayer dollars at pie-in-the-sky Solyndra, it also nixed the Keystone XL pipeline which would have required no taxpayer funding and would have produced an estimated 20,000 American jobs almost immediately. Imagine the benefit of producing that Keystone oil ourselves without even the need for the Trans-Canadian pipeline. "Made In America" is still the best energy policy available.

Note: I will be making the long trek into civilization for an overdue doctor's appointment in the afternoon. I expect to be back fairly late, since they're predicting rain in the lowlands and snow up by my abode. So if I'm late getting to your comments, I hope you'll forgive me. I'll get to them as soon as I get home. Kitty Kelly offered to take over my duties, but she had that gleam in her eye that made me decline her offer.