Washington had years to fix this problem

Jim Weber, Mesquite

Thursday, Aug. 7, 2008 | 2:03 a.m.

I’ve been watching cable TV news stories about 40 or so Republican members of Congress who have remained in Washington and are daily demanding that the rest of Congress return immediately and vote on authorizing oil drilling on the outer continental shelf.

These members of Congress are not new to Washington but have apparently experienced an epiphany about energy costs that had eluded them in the past. Perhaps they just discovered the calendar and saw an election was close by. Several I recognized were members of Congress before 2007, when Republicans were the majority party in Congress.

I also noticed that President Bush recently rescinded an executive order, signed by his father, that prohibited oil drilling on the outer continental shelf. This after a mere 7 1/2 years as president. Another epiphany, I guess.

By now we should realize that Washington does not react to and solve problems — it only overreacts to crises and usually with the wrong answer. I would like someone to explain to me why politicians think oil companies are motivated to take actions (drill for and produce more oil) if those actions reduce the price of their product.

By all evidence it looks as if the average citizen is on his own with regard to gasoline prices, and if we wait for Washington to solve our problems we are likely to be disappointed. Maybe checking your tire pressure is the best idea. At least we don’t have to wait for politicians to get it done.