Commentary
President Joe Biden claimed that democracy was on the ballot while speaking at Union Station in Washington on Nov. 2. “In a typical year, we are not often faced with the question of whether the vote we cast will preserve democracy or put it at risk. But we are this year.”
The implication from the president and other prominent Democrats is that voting Republican is somehow a vote against democracy. He also called the midterms a “struggle for democracy.”
Obviously, having an election and allowing voters to vote for either party is the definition of democracy. And while the voters are split along party lines, it seems the president is way off base if he believes Americans are losing sleep over the alleged threat to democracy caused by the Republican Party.
According to Pew Research, the economy is the most important priority for voters in the midterms, and energy is fourth. Voters are more concerned with the cost of living and inflation than democracy.
In numerous tweets and the Oct. 19 White House press release, Biden said he wanted to cut gas prices to help American families. To achieve this goal, he outlined how his administration needed to responsibly increase domestic oil production without delaying or deferring the transition to clean energy.
However, this transition to green energy demands a decrease in oil production. At last year’s G20 summit, Biden said he wants to reduce carbon emissions by 50-52 percent by 2030. These two goals are at odds with each other because Biden cannot threaten to drive oil companies out of business in less than 10 years but then expect prices to come down.
The oil industry has asked the administration to approve pipeline construction, open up more federal lands for drilling, and reverse the changes it made by raising corporate taxes. Environmentalist groups, which comprise part of Biden’s voter base, have asked the president to block the oil companies from expanded drilling.
In August, Biden signed the $739 billion Inflation Reduction Act, which includes a clean energy component comprising roughly half of the total spending. Basic economics logic says that increasing government spending will increase inflation. At the same time, it is ironic that some of the funding will come from increased taxes on the very oil companies Biden is now asking to cut prices. Meanwhile, he has repeatedly claimed that these restrictions on the oil companies will somehow create good-paying jobs. Of course, by taking these measures, he would also eliminate the well-paid oil industry jobs.
At present, around 11 million Americans work in the oil and natural gas industry, and by 2030, Bident wants to reduce the sector by half. The average job in the oil industry pays over $76,000 per year, which is relatively higher than the U.S. average of $69,000 per year. Oil jobs, including the truck drivers who transport the oil, are some of the last well-paying jobs that do not require a college degree. And Biden will be eliminating them.
In the White House’s Aug. 16 statement about the Inflation Reduction Act, Biden claimed that “every single Republican—every single one—voted against tackling the climate crisis, against lowering our energy costs, against creating good-paying jobs.” In the same document and subsequent tweets, he claimed that every Republican voted against lowering health care costs. The reality is that Republicans voted against Biden’s expensive plan, which will destroy jobs and drive up energy costs.
The real issue for Biden is not that he is concerned about the prices Americans will pay for gas, but rather about the Democrats losing control of Congress. An analysis by Washington-based independent energy research firm ClearView Energy Partners found that two of the most important swing states, Nevada and Pennsylvania, are sensitive to the price of gas. Americans care about inflation, the rising cost of living, high gas prices, and unemployment—all problems the Biden administration has made worse.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
