Because Socialism Works, Dumbass

There should be some sort of test one has to take if he wants to be a civil servant - elected, career bureaucrat, whatever. The test should cover the basics of how government works and, more importantly, how simple economic and capitalist principles work.

The power that congress and, to some extent, the President wield over the economy is vast, so it's only logical that the people deciding how much to tax, spend, and waste our money at a very minimum understand the basics. Is that too much to ask? Doctors have to pass exams. Lawyers have to take a bar. What do elected officials have to do? Say things that me people feel good? Well, hell, let's elect every stripper and prostitute out there. They know how to make people feel good about wasting their money.

Yesterday, House Democrats held a little press conference where they made it perfectly clear that the solution to high gas prices was the socialization of oil refineries. For the political junkies out there, this really isn't a surprise. The last time the oil company executives were on the Hill for their quarterly tongue lashing, one brainiac congresswoman came out and said that she was ready to socialize the entire oil industry.

What's shocking about this latest press conference is the absolute ignorance these lawmakers demonstrate when it comes to how the oil industry operates. Rep. Maurice Hinchey made the brilliant statement that, "We (the government) should own the refineries. Then we can control how much gets out into the market."

Maurice seems to think that the oil companies are hoarding oil; that there is a stockpile sitting somewhere out there, and the oil companies are purposefully limiting supply to keep the price inflated. The only logical explanation for why Maurice believes this is that he does not know where oil comes from. And naturally, he and the rest of the Democrat Representatives at the press conference are steadfastly opposed to expanding drilling here in the states. Because as every college freshman knows, increased supply has no affect on price. Wait - that doesn't sound right...

The only socialized industry that functions effectively is the Postal Service, and they still have competition (FedEx, UPS, DHL, etc.). AMTRAK would have been out of business years ago if not for federal subsidies. Countries that adopted wholesale socialism (the Soviet Union, Cuba, most of western Europe) are either no longer existent or in serious trouble. Why would we want that?

I'm reminded of a great Ronald Reagan quote -"The scariest 9 words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government, and I'm here to help.'"