OPINION:
As the midterm elections approach and costs for everyday Americans continue rising, the weakness of America’s new lead-from-behind approach is on full display for the world to see.
In a futile attempt to curb skyrocketing gas prices and the save midterms, the president and the leader of the free world went on bended knee to OPEC seeking a boost in oil production.
To demonstrate the true nature of their respect for President Biden, instead of boosting production, OPEC+ member nations later announced a cut of 2 million barrels per day. Biden’s response was to yet again release from our Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which he has cut nearly in half during his two years in office.
The president knows what rising costs mean for the Democratic Party’s hopes in November, and he still can’t deliver.
Under Mr. Biden, we have seen record-high gasoline prices and 40-year-high inflation. Now, we’re heading into a winter where we could experience the highest cost to heat our homes in a decade or more. These are the kitchen-table issues Americans care about and what ultimately influences votes.
Had he simply continued the Trump administration’s energy policies — which prioritized domestic production and created thousands of jobs, boosted the economy, and led to less dependence on foreign energy and low energy costs for the American people — Mr. Biden could have wholly avoided his party’s greatest political roadblock.
But Mr. Biden and Democrats remain obsessed with their climate agenda, despite the fact it is plunging Americans into financial straits. They make themselves out to be environmental saviors, but when you pull back the curtain, it’s clear the left’s climate policies are dangerous.
Democrats don’t shy away from their goal: Eliminating American production of fossil fuels. Unfortunately for them, the Biden administration itself projects global energy demand will increase by 50% by 2050. Global demand for natural gas will increase at least 40% by 2050 and coal will increase from 8 billion tons a year to nearly 9 billion tons in 2050. They also project fossil energy will still provide 82% of energy worldwide in 2050.
That’s a problem for the “friends of the environment” on the left.
America produces fossil fuels with far less environmental impact than nations like China and Russia — nations that will pick up the slack for America’s drop in production. For every ton of reduced emissions by the United States, China increased emissions seven times. The Biden administration’s war on fossil fuels is providing both increased demand and incentive for nations that are the worst environmental offenders, including China, to ramp up fossil fuel production.
Further, the left’s energy policies are damaging at home. Rising costs are forcing Americans to choose between filling their gas tank or getting dinner, keeping their house warm for the winter or putting Christmas presents under the tree.
Hundreds of thousands of Californians just had to suffer through blackouts last month, and fossil fuels kept the power grid afloat. At one point in the crisis, “renewables” accounted for less than 10% of the power being generated in the state. This is only the beginning.
In New England, they are preparing for a winter of blackouts when temperatures will reach frigid levels. We are seeing entire regions of people in the most prosperous nation in the world unable to power their homes thanks to the failed policies of this administration. The Biden left is trying to sell a far-fetched fantasy world free of fossil fuels to the American people.
In addition, as much as the left pretends to care about issues like threats to democracy or human rights, they seem content putting money in the pockets of dictators if it can help them win elections. Earlier this year, the Biden administration returned to importing oil from Venezuela, something that had been done for only one month in the previous three years.
The left was all too eager to chastise the Trump administration over its relationship with Saudi Arabia following the killing of Jamal Kashoggi. Yet Mr. Biden has no problem begging the Saudis for oil to help Democrats’ reelection chances without so much as a peep from those in his party.
Democrats’ climate policies are nothing more than a ruse to deceive the American people into believing Democrats are the morally superior party — the ones who care about your child’s future. The reality? Their policies weaken America’s economic prosperity and national security.
The likes of John Kerry and Democrat elitists like the Obamas will continue gallivanting around the world using private jets, leaving the rest of us to suffer the consequences of their disastrous climate policies. Reform always begins one rung on the ladder below the reformer, and nowhere is that clearer than the left’s dangerous climate agenda.
• Evan Berryhill is a vice president at Firehouse Strategies and formerly served as deputy communications director for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ 2022 reelection campaign. You can follow him on Twitter @EvBerryhill.
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