Jokers to the Right.com: Republicans v. Economics

Evan Coyne Maloney has a post on the reasons for high gas prices, and why it is really everybody's fault:

When it came to the economy, there used to be two distinct political parties in America. Democrats generally favored larger government, more controls over the economy, and higher taxes. Republicans preferred smaller government, a more free economy, and lower taxes. But in the dozen years since the Republicans gained control over Congress, they have inexplicably begun to morph into the party that they displaced.
Government spending under the Republican Congress is out of control, and the high price of gas is causing Republicans to dust off socialist terminology like "price gouging" and "obscene profits." The one remaining difference between the parties seems to be on tax policy--Republicans still tend to favor lower taxes--but given the Republicans' abandonment of their other principles, I wonder how long that will be the case.

He also links to James K. Glassman's piece on TCDaily.com that attacks Bush for a policy that is a "sad example of political capitulation by a former Texas oilman who certainly knows better." Glassman also cites the reason for high gas prices, including higher demand from the developing world, an unstable Iran, and the inability (due to the current political climate) to increase supply on our end. Maloney expands:

Did you know, for example, that a new oil refinery hasn't been built in the United States in the past 30 years? Or that environmentalists have blocked new oil drilling virtually everywhere in the country? And since oil isn't an option, what about nuclear power? Nope, environmentalists have blocked that, too. Even wind farms are out of vogue; the great environmentalist Kennedy clan helped kill a wind farm project in the Nantucket Sound that might have marred the view from their Hyannisport compound. In other words, many of the people using the high price of gas to push for government intervention in the economy are the very people who created the energy supply shortfall in the first place.
But that doesn't let the Republicans off the hook. In fact, it makes it more important to take them to task for their irresponsible economic rhetoric. I expect Democrats to employ socialist arguments; it's what they do. But when Republicans join them, it makes me wonder what the point of voting Republican is. I doubt I'm alone in feeling this way, and if so, the Republicans have a reason to worry about the election in November. They are supposed to be the party that understands basic economic laws like supply and demand. Maybe a good old-fashioned electoral ass-whoopin' is what the Republicans need to remind them of that.

Bring on the nukes, and the windmills!