John McCain

I recently received an email message with a link to a Wall Street Journal article concerning John McCain on taxes. Looks like the Republicans are trying to quiet the fears of many fiscal consevatives in the party, and convice them to hold their noses and vote for McCain. I have posted my response below.

Thanks for passing along the article on McCain. I must admit that I
feel slightly less agitated by him knowing that his vote against the 2003
microscopic tax cuts was in protest of the bill not going far enough to reign in
spending at the same time. I have also spent the last few minutes studying
his votes and positions over the past 10 years, and I must say he appears to be
slightly more friendly to the low tax, more social freedom, issues that I hold
dear. However, I still find him light years away from someone I could ever
consider giving my stamp of approval via voting booth.

Although she is even further away from me on most issues,
I would probably feel more comfortable with Clinton in office than McCain for
the next four years. This would undoudtedly cause the Republicans to rally
once again and sweep congress to oppose her and we would return to that sweet
gridlock whereby the two parties spend all of their energies fighting eachother
and very little gets done in the way of tinkering with our economic and social
liberties. I look back on the 1990's and see that while Clinton was in
office, the Republicans as the opposition party were much more helpful in
fighting runaway government spending than they have been as the majority party
over the past 8 or so years. Honestly, the possibility of them regaining a
majority scares me. George Bush's compassionate conservatism has infected
the Republican party. It is like a disease that allows Republicans to grow
the size and scope of the government under another name, but it sure looks a lot
like modern day big government, bleeding heart liberalism to
me.

I don't like the direction our government has gone over the past 50
years, and I can't consciously, or morally support the controlling forces that
have been responsible for growing the state to its present form.

I can not as many on the right have said they would do, and hold their
nose and vote for McCain.

Rising Gas Prices

As the prices at the pump continue to rise, the people seem willing only to point their fingers at those greedy oil companies, rather than the government that has created the problem and then exacerbated it with outrageously high taxes on the product. How can Exxon Mobil justify such high gas prices, all the while paying CEO Lee Raymond a $400 million retirement package? Tom Doggett of Reuters called this action a "shamefull display of greed." But is it shameful for a successful and profitable company operating in a quasi-free market to reward its’ CEO for a job well done? Most people do not realize that the profits collected on a gallon of gasoline are actually lower than the tax collected by the government on that same gallon of gasoline. And now the politicians are playing on the ignorance of the American people by calling for a “windfall profit tax” on the oil companies to off set these rising gas prices. It is too bad that corporations do not pay taxes; they pass them on to consumers via higher prices. So how does this help the situation?

The focus of anger towards the oil companies at the problem of rising gas prices has been wholeheartedly misdirected by the people. When reporters like Doggett along with many other members of the media, and both Republican and Democrat politicians speak out against the oil companies as the root of the problem they fan the flames of an anti-capitalist, anti-free market mentality. They are doing the U.S. a great disservice with their rhetoric.

People should realize that it has been the government’s environmental policies that have created this problem, not the oil companies. Mandates set forth that have not allowed a new refinery to be built in the last thirty years have stifled competition in this industry. Regulations that require so many different blends of gasoline depending on the region the gas is sold in also contribute to higher costs associated with producing and distributing the product. Since only certain blends can be sold in certain areas, shortages are created – thus we pay higher prices.

Environmentalists have blocked oil drilling in Alaska for many years now. Floridians do not want U.S. oil companies to be able to drill for oil of the coast of Florida because they are afraid there might be an oil spill of some kind so close to their homes. Many people are probably unaware of the fact that Fidel Castro has signed agreements with Spain, Canada, and China to explore offshore drilling northeast and northwest of Havana just about 50 miles from Key West. I wonder how the Floridians feel now. They have blocked U.S. companies from exploration of this area due to fears of oil spills, but U.S. oil companies are much better equipped to safely drill for oil than China and Spain.

Now I support protecting our environment, but there has to be a way to do it without creating virtual monopolies and oil shortages as unintended consequences. World wide oil demand has increased to a point that these reckless environmental policies are going to create a gasoline price disaster. Something must be done, or better yet undone, to allow for more competition, and easier production and distribution of gasoline.

But perhaps the vilest aspect of this whole debate lies in the hidden truth about the secret taxes paid on a gallon of gasoline. I say secret because this is the one product consumers purchase that they are largely unaware of the tax rate they are paying. Why is this so? The federal government takes 18.4 cents of every gallon of gas sold and the states take an average of 27.5 cents per gallon. This is taken from consumers at the pump before they even realize that it is gone much like the federal withholding tax from their paychecks. It just so happens that the average profit made on a gallon of gasoline by the companies that produce the gas is only about 8 cents per gallon. And then these same companies pay taxes on those profits.

It is time for the American people to wake up and understand what is really going on here. We need to hold our government accountable for its’ unjust actions that have put us in this position, not the oil companies who are only responding to market forces and unjust government policies.