The Big Daddy Syndrome

I caught a little bit of that cherubic nincompoop Glenn Beck last night as I was flipping around the channels. He was chastising President Bush for making such a wimpy energy speech, imploring Congress to lift the ban on offshore drilling. Mr. Beck felt that, instead of asking Congress, Mr. Bush should simply make an executive order which allowed the drilling and send out some oil men pronto to start bringing up the crude. He couldn't understand why the President wouldn't do such a thing. I don't know. Maybe because we don't live in a dictatorship?!!

Mr. Beck feels that the President has to act quickly to preserve our way of life. And what way of life is that? Fat-assed scoccer moms carting their fat-assed rug rats around in gas-guzzling SUVs to soccer practice or ballet lessons and then hauling them over to KFC or Burger King for fat-filled crap because "they don't have time" to cook a proper, nutritious meal? Perhaps instead the children could stay home and learn to play on their own and the parents could learn to cook a healthful meal and everyone then could sit down for dinner and engage in that lost activity called "conversation." You remember conversation, dontcha Glenn? It's what people used to do before jackasses like you decided that it was better just to shout over people instead of listening to them.

Our way of life is not about crass consumerism and wastefulness. We are a country of laws. America is The Constitution. It's a system of checks and balances where all three branches of the federal government struggle together to set the law of the land. Our forefathers purposely made our system slow and cumbersome so that no rash decisions were rushed into law or that no one person or group would gain too much power.

I'm so sick of people who get nervous during hard times and want some big daddy to swoop in and quickly fix everything. We got nervous after 9/11 and allowed George Bush broad latitude to address the terrorist issue. What we ended up with was a quagmire in Iraq. Whenever people cave in to fear during difficult times and allow one person broad powers to fix their problems, you give rise to people like Adolf Hitler.

Personally, I believe that offshore drilling is a necessary evil in the short term to address our oil needs (even though the oil won't hit the market for years). The use of shale is also something I can't understand why Congress has chosen to block. Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) I have some issues with because of the risks of spills transporting so much oil over such a broad expanse of treacherous territory. One major spill could seriously damage that whole region for many years to come.

Of course, Mr. Beck's answer to the ANWR issue? "Sorry polar bears, sucks to be you!" Well Mr. Beck, we're still not so sure about how this vast eco-system fits together. The demise of polar bears could be a signal that our own demise is not far behind. Of course, Mr. Beck is one of those conservatives who scoffs at global warming without offering any counter evidence to discredit the theory. I think he's so fixated on believing that his current lifestyle cannot be disrupted that he is compelled to dismiss any evidence to the contrary. As the commercial says, Mr. Beck, life comes at you fast.

But getting back to my point, I don't disagree with his point that more domestic drilling must take place. My beef is with this notion that the president should be given expansive powers whenever there is a pressing issue. Mr. Beck's reasoning is that Congress is in the back pockets of special interest groups and don't answer to the will of the people. And a spoiled rich guy from Texas does? And what exactly is the will of all the people in the U.S.? Apparently, whatever Mr. Beck believes it is, because after all, he speaks for the American people and everyone who disagrees with him is from some "special interest group."

When did the state of conservative commentary go from George Will to Glenn Beck? I guess during the same time that the state of cooking shows went from Julia Child to Rachael Ray. Getting the same uninformed opinion from a TV commentator that I can get from a drunk at the local bar is not good television people!

So if no one can tell Glenn Beck why President Bush gave the speech he gave rather than issuing an executive order, I will try to explain it to him in simple terms that he can understand (hopefully). First, Congress creates the laws, not the president. Second, as a former governor, Mr. Bush understands the concept of state's rights. He would not want to impose offshore drilling on Mr. Schwarzenegger anymore than he would've wanted it imposed on him when he was governor of Texas. So instead of mobilizing drilling crews and charging into the ocean, he made a measured and thoughtful speech about his views on new energy policy which I'm sure he hopes will sway not only Congress, but the governments of the states involved, and maybe even the majority of the American public. It's the way the American system of government works, Mr. Beck.

God, I can't believe I'm defending George Bush.