Up, Up, Up: The Tyranny of High Gasoline Prices

Now that gasoline prices are heading back up into the $3 to $4 territory, perhaps it would be a good time to remember that liberals and environmentalists are enthusiastically supporting this assault on middle-class and below-poverty-level families:

Thomas Friedman claims in the New York Times that higher gas taxes would be a "Win, Win, Win" solution.

"Higher U.S. gas prices are long overdue," says Rachel Brownell in Strollerderby.

$4 Gas Does the Environmentalists' Job for Them

Now, let's review a few of the effects of $4 gas last summer:

• People were forced to choose between transportation to work and paying mortgage bills, credit card bills, or car payments, leading to the credit crunch that crippled the economy.
• Consumers stopped buying cars, leading to the failure of the auto industry and the resulting federal bailout and Obama-forced bankruptcy of Chrysler and General Motors.
• Food banks were depleted and homeless shelters were forced to feed and house more people with less money from fewer donors.
• Grocery prices rose because of higher trucking costs, literally causing people to go hungry.
• People got mad, and "drill here, drill now" became a popular mantra until lower gas prices made us forget how bad those prices were.

Now, I'm not for destroying the environment, but I live in one of America's poorest neighborhoods within one of America's hardest-hit cities. I saw first-hand how high gas prices, fed by Congress's refusal to allow new refineries to be built and existing oil to be taken from domestic sources, caused an increase in desperate poverty, caused families to suffer hunger, and depleted the resources of ministries trying to provide a safety net to the poor.

Low gas prices liberate the poor to get to work and liberate consumers to purchase goods that workers produce. I'm tired of wealthy liberals like Tom Friedman telling the rest of us we should pay $4 a gallon regardless of the cost that imposes on the poor and suffering among us.

Don't claim to be compassionate! Don't claim to be the party of the disenfranchised! You, the Democratic party, are the party of the rich and elite who couldn't care less about the needs of the poor.

Drill here, drill now, and tax less.