In April 2006, with the Democrats poised to take over Congress with Nancy Pelosi at the helm, she released a statement saying, “With skyrocketing gas prices, it is clear that the American people can no longer afford the Republican Rubber Stamp Congress.” She followed that with the commitment,

“Democrats have a common sense plan to help bring down skyrocketing gas prices by cracking down on price gouging.”

So has the Democrat’s commonsense plan worked? Average gas prices were about $2.50 a gallon at the time. Now they’re $4 a gallon and rising. Some crack-down plan.

* Though we have more oil in the shale of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming than combined in the Middle East (800 billion barrels), liberals and environmentalists have made it illegal to touch it.
* It’s illegal to drill in northern Alaska (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge), or off the coasts of Florida or California.
* Oil fields in Colorado are being shut down.
* We won’t develop shale oil fields in the Western states
* It’s illegal to explore in the Atlantic.
* It’s illegal to explore in the Pacific
* It’s illegal to explore in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico
* We’re not receiving any more leases to drill in the Gulf of Mexico, while China, Venezuela and Cuba are.
* We haven’t built an oil refinery in 25 years and reduced in half those we have
* There’s enough natural gas beneath America (406 trillion cube feet) to heat every home in America for the next 150 years, but we can’t tap it all.
* We have the largest supply of coal in the world, but it’s Germany who is planning to build 27 coal-fired electrical plants by 2020.
* American airlines are in danger of going out of business.
* American truckers are being stranded on the sides of the road.
* American commuters are going bankrupt trying to travel back and forth to work, and are being forced to work locally for lower wages.