By RICK WHITBECK | POWER THE FUTURE
As we approach our nation’s 246th birthday, we should have a lot to celebrate.
Let’s start with the end of pandemic life. But, Dr. Anthony Fauci would like a quick word …
Our economy is booming! Yeah, I know inflation is at a 30-year high, but …
Gas prices are… OK, gas prices are their highest in history now, even adjusted for inflation.
At least there’s nothing that can ruin that cherished tradition of the summer cookout.
Think again. Under the “What the Biden White House doesn’t want you to read” file we find this little firecracker from the U.S. Farm Bureau:
Cost of July 4th Cookout 17% Higher Compared to a Year Ago.
The Farm Bureau annually calculates the U.S. average for a 10-person cookout, and this year’s jump is the highest in their history. Chicken breasts, hamburgers and all the sides, plus ice cream and lemonade, will run $69.68, instead of last year’s $59.50. Of course, this is no shock to anyone who spent any time in a grocery store over the last year.
However, we’re all old enough to remember that one year ago, the White House infamously celebrated a 16-cent savings for the exact same meal.
Alaskans know our cost of groceries and food is always significantly higher than our Lower-48 brethren pay at the checkout stand. Our food prices are approaching 40% higher year-over-year for numerous items in our urban areas, and nearly double the price for essential goods like milk, and bread in many rural regions across the state.
There’s a reason the average Alaskan is seeing double-digit percentages of increased costs for nearly everything this summer, compared to last: Joe Biden’s failures.
From day one, Biden and his “leadership team” were hell bent on a forced transition away from traditional energy as fast as possible. By doing so, they surrendered an America-first energy agenda that had made the country energy independent and a net oil/gas exporter.
Instead, Team Biden continues to attack oil and gas development at nearly every turn, which cost the industry nearly 30,000 jobs in 2021, according to a new report. That’s 30,000 good-paying jobs; potentially now a drag on government budgets, rather than an uplifter of them.
Elections have consequences. We are living with the consequences of the 2020 election, but a new opportunity isn’t too far away. Alaskans will go to the polls in August and again in November, when we’ll have the opportunity to elect rational, pro-Alaska, pro-progress and pro-responsible candidates. We should reject those calling for an end to the energy jobs that drove our past, drive our present and will be foundational for our future.
We’ll have a clear choice this election season between fear-over-facts candidates who use actual data and analysis instead of make-believe, hypocrisy and outright lies to move their political needle.
Make no mistake, America is and should remain the envy of the world. Not even the short-sighted policies of the Biden Administration (or any politician for that matter) can take that away. We do have a lot to celebrate, and let’s all take a moment to do so this weekend.
Alaska, let’s make the right choice, and celebrate this July 4th knowing that if we and our friends and reasonable Alaskans do the same, brighter days, and lower costs are ahead of us.
Rick Whitbeck is the Alaska State Director for Power The Future, a national nonprofit organization that advocates for American energy jobs. Contact him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @PTFAlaska.
