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United States of America (with Canada and Mexico in monotone color)

I’ve received some feedback on the most recent article published here “TransCanada Trojan Horse: Keystone XL Pipeline Will Increase Gas Prices“. That feedback confirms my earlier concerns about the use of environmentalist rhetoric in the pipeline project debate. That feedback also confirms that anyone else interested in running for Miss Popularity in the state need not fear competition from me.

Are we really willing to see or hear?

People apparently can not now hear anything negative about the pipeline project. But the inability to hear or see anything negative is not only caused by environmentally-driven opposition. Proponents have managed to “push” a couple of key “buttons” on conservative / limited government / liberty-leaning types. Primarily, the project speaks to the understandable desire for “energy independence”. Conservative / liberty-leaning people are so desperate to see sensible use of our own available resources, they’ll settle for increased oil production from sources that are “not hostile” (Middle East, Venezula).

Another button that has been pushed by proponents is a desire to see economic activity, generally – it is genuinely needed.  The pipeline has been marketed as a $7 billion project which stands to generate lots of jobs.

The negative and positive reactions are an endless loop…

Environmentalist rhetoric has become especially negative-sounding in the last few years as gas prices have generally increased and periodically spiked, new and restricting regulations have gone into effect, more expensive and less desirable “green” technologies have been pushed or mandated, and “green jobs” have been endlessly touted. News of Solyndra and other wasteful and abusive spending (what a shocker!) of “stimulus” dollars have provided additionally legitimate reasons for scorn of the whole environmentalism-gone-wild thing.

The TransCanada project seems a tailor-made solution; it is good old-fashioned oil, evoking images of Jed Clampett (black oil, Texas Tea). It is definitely not a creator of “green” jobs; in fact, such a project seems to involve a lot of brown dirt and black oil smudges on the sweaty foreheads of blue-jean wearing, Big Mac-eating guys with hardhats. And surely, the whole idea of flowing oil satisfies, at least a bit, that growing American urge to “Drill, Baby, Drill!”

I, like every other constitutional conservative would really love to raise my glass in celebratory toast at the idea of a river of good ‘ole oil flowing through a pipe that would provide skads of jobs to my fellow Nebraskans, that would reduce our dependence on foreign oil (oops) “hostile” foreign oil, provide tax revenues from increased economic activity that would result in some tax cuts for Nebraskans (who are taxed, overall, higher than any of our neighbors).

I would also like to raise my glass in a celebratory toast to my elected officials in Nebraska who represented my and my fellow citizens’ interests both at the State Capitol and in Washington, D.C. and for their deliberative contemplation of the issues associated with a large project that affects property owners in a wide path through the state. I would really like to be proud of the honesty, integrity, and principles of my elected officials.

I would like a President who understands his geography to the extent that he knows Canada is not a part of the domestic United States, so when he says we need to develop more domestic oil and gas he is actually talking about the SOVEREIGN NATION that is the United States of America. (You know, the one comprised of 50 states?…I think a map would sort things out…if you don’t own one, I’ve provided a link, Mr. President, just in case, so you can buy one on Amazon: Rand Mcnally Us Wall Map (M Series U.S.A. Wall Maps) 50″x32″.)

There are a lot of things I would like to be true. But I think its more sensible to deal with what is actually true. I am sincerely grieved by the fact that too often, the truth I find is not pleasant. I am actually fulfilling a pledge I made this summer after having taken a much needed “mental health break”. Rather than find a new way to say what I said then, I will simply share it here, as written, since it seems more true today than it was before:

The average Nebraska Republican thinks their elected officials are doing just fine, that Nebraska is just fine; it’s other states that are in trouble and above all, the overwhelming trouble is in Washington. And lots and lots of people think that if we could just get that Obama guy out of the White House, and get the whole Congress Republican, our problems would just evaporate.

Boy, do I WISH that was all true.

Nebraska is not in nearly as good of shape as the political dialogue would have us all believe, and Republicans have controlled this state for a very long time. If we’re going to address the problems, I don’t know how we avoid saying negative things about the people who have made and are making the decisions…and they are mostly Republicans.

So what I’ve realized during my little hiatus is that I became too caught up worrying about getting shot for carrying the message. Time to put on my bullet proof vest. We need to get a lot tougher on the people who are in public office and the people who circle around them who are helping keep the status quo in place.

I’ve also worried too much about people no longer reading our site or wishing to hear from us. But in worrying about that, there isn’t enough truth getting out there. And to quote from John:

“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” – John 8:32

I humbly request that Nebraskans who are concerned about such fundamentally constitutional issues as property rights, state and federal sovereignty, true energy security, and the principles of the people who are supposed to be in office to represent us, to ponder whether or not they wish to be swayed by surface-level emotional reactions or logic, reason, and evidence.

Since I am a human being, there is a 100% probability that I am going to make mistakes. I truly do my best to avoid them. I feel a particular responsibility when the information I find requires me to report to my fellow citizens that there is something fundamentally wrong afoot in our government. I have tried to do my homework. In the case of the issue at hand, the Keystone XL pipeline project, I purposely spent additional days researching and then asked several other people to review that information before publishing anything on this site.

I’ve pledged to search for and tell the truth based on facts and to analyze it based on this group’s Mission Statement and principles. One truth in this case is that the Nebraska media is not asking a number of tough questions on the subject of the pipeline project. The issue has been thoroughly commandeered by interest groups.

I sent out a press release on Friday to a rather sizable list of media outlets in an effort to be a voice of reason on this subject and to attempt to get some tougher questions posed to our elected officials.

I have only one question for readers at this point…

Whether or not you agree with my analysis, would you at least contact some folks in the media and ask them why they are not asking questions about the factual information I included in the release?

(Note that there are two pages included with this release, one is a list of citations and references. We encourage individuals to print and share with others; other sites, blogs, and media, if republishing in whole or in part, please notify us and link back, thank you. )

Click to view / download PDF

Meanwhile I recommend Americans who believe that Canada is “domestic” learn the following song: