Tire pressure

Larry Kudlow:

There is a voter revolt going on, and it reminds me of the anti-tax rebellion that lifted Ronald Reagan into office twenty-eight years ago. Is the conventional wisdom about to be swept away? As Republicans press home the drill, drill, drill message, might they pick up seats in Congress this year? And might the national clamor for a more realistic and balanced energy policy -- one that includes more oil, natural gas, clean coal, nuclear, and the alternatives of wind, solar, and cellulosic -- carry John McCain to a convincing victory over Obama?

The problem with the price of gasoline isn't that it's $4.- a gallon. It's that we're driving around in cars that get less than 20 mpg and we can't just suddenly stop driving those cars and switch to nonexistent commuter rail lines. In other words, the free market has failed us miserably.

John McCain, who has been in Congress for 26 years, had ample opportunity to recognize that we would eventually run into a problem like this--it's really not that difficult--and he had ample opportunity to enact legislation that would have nudged us into driving more fuel-efficient vehicles and increased public transportation.

Instead, he drank the milkshake that the free market will magically come up with solutions when we need them and we need not prepare. Not only that, he's going to try to make us continue to believe that if only we drill now, the solutions we need will somehow magically appear out of nowhere.

Without even realizing it, the GOP drilling offensive has become a new contract with America. And it appears to be working. The public is putting aside global warming and choosing instead new-energy production, a stronger economy, and more job creation. Voters want growth, not austerity. They want Ronald Reagan, not Thomas Malthus.

I'm sure most of us want flying cars that run on fairy dust too! But that isn't going to help us any and neither will McCain's energy policy.

Looking back at the shear wastefulness of the last 30 years and where it brought us, maybe sweaters and tire gauges aren't nearly as ridiculous as Republicans might think.