September 20, 2024

Permission to republish original opeds and cartoons granted.

Electricity prices in the U.S. are up 26 percent since beginning of 2021. As Obama warned in 2008, it’s on purpose, and Harris supports it.

By Robert Romano

“If somebody wants to build a coal-fired power plant, they can. It’s just that it will bankrupt them… Under my plan… electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.”

That was former President Barack Obama in a 2008 interview when he was running for president for the first time, outlining his policy that became the Clean Power Plan—which disincentivized coal electricity production — to drive up electricity prices to the moon in order to make green alternatives more marketable.

Now, almost 20 years later, it’s clear that it’s working, with electricity prices up 42 percent since Jan. 2009. But you might not have noticed as much until recently, as incomes were more than keeping up with general inflation during that time through the Obama and then Trump administrations into 2020.

That all changed in 2021, when with a combination of the worsened post-Covid production downturn that exacerbated the global supply chain crisis and printing almost $7 trillion for Covid in 2020 and 2021, inflation has eclipsed incomes.

Since Feb. 2021 alone, when President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, electricity prices have skyrocketed by 26 percent. But personal incomes, including government transfer payments, are still only up 18.6 percent, meaning most households are feeling the pinch more than ever when their utility bills come due — and for everything else too, including groceries, filling up the gas tank and so forth, which similarly have not kept up.

One of the reasons is because of the transition away from thermal sources of electricity, especially coal, and a failure to keep up with population growth and therefore demand on the overall electricity grid.

In 2008, the U.S. total electric power industry was producing 4.119 billion megawatt hours (MWh), including 1.985 billion MWh from coal, 882.4 million MWh from natural gas and 56.2 million MWh from solar and wind combined, data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) shows.

In 2012, total electricity output had declined to 4.047 billion MWh, including 1.514 billion MWh from coal, 1.225 billion MWh from natural gas and 145 million MWh from solar and wind combined.

And then in 2022, total electricity output was up to 4.230 billion MWh, including 831 million MWh from coal, 1.687 billion MWh from natural gas and 578 million MWh from solar and wind combined.

In the meantime, the U.S. population has increased by more than 30 million to 334.9 million, a 10.1 percent increase. But overall electricity generation has only increased by 2.6 percent. Demand is up, but electricity production has not kept up—by design—and so prices have skyrocketed.

Since 2008, coal electricity generation is down 44.4 percent. And, thanks to the Obama era regulations, natural gas, wind and solar were incentivized, with natural gas increasing 91 percent and solar and wind combined increasing 928 percent.

However, because coal electricity generation has decreased faster than natural gas electricity generation has increased, the overall amount of thermal electricity produced from those two sources that most Americans depend on has decreased from 2.868 billion MWh in 2008 to 2.518 billion MWh in 2022, a 12.2 percent decrease.

That, even though coal and natural gas still make up 59.5 percent of the entire electricity grid. Our most important sources of power are being decreased on a net basis — on purpose — as a part of the Democratic Party’s goal to make carbon-producing electricity too expensive!

A plan that Vice President Kamala Harris, who cast the tie-breaking vote for the so-called Inflation Reduction Act that included $783 billion for green energy subsidies, wholeheartedly supports. She is now also paying lip service to fracking that natural gas production depends on—we could not operate our electricity grid at all without natural gas at this point—but the fact is, the policies she has supported have made it so electricity generation cannot keep up with demand.

Overall thermal electricity generation from coal and natural gas combined should be increasing in line with the growth of demand, but because those produce carbon, policies are aligned with ensuring that the incentives to do so are not in place. The fact is, the Green New Deal depends on inflation, particularly electricity inflation, in order to muscle the transition through. The transformation taking place that began under Obama is dramatic and, rest assured, under Harris it will continue.

Robert Romano is the Vice President of Public Policy at Americans for Limited Government Foundation.

To view online: https://dailytorch.com/2024/09/electricity-prices-in-the-u-s-are-up-26-percent-since-beginning-of-2021-as-obama-warned-in-2008-its-on-purpose-and-harris-supports-it/

After 2020 Election Debacle Vast Majority of Americans Support Laws to Prevent Voter Fraud 

By Manzanita Miller 

A little-covered survey about how Americans view voter fraud was released from YouGov this week, and the results are distinct. Americans broadly support a multitude of measures aimed at reducing voter fraud after highly questionable ballot processing and election day issues called the 2020 election results into question.

According to the survey, three-quarters of Americans (75 percent) support requiring a photo ID to vote, and nearly the same amount (74 percent) support requiring proof citizenship to vote. 

Let it be noted that many states accept “a signature” but no photograph to visually match the individual standing in front of them to the alleged name of the voter. Several states request no form of identification at all, whether that be an identification document, signature, or a photo ID. 

Support for requiring a photo ID to vote is broad, with 58 percent of Democrats, 74 percent of independents, 70 percent of Hispanics, and 66 percent of Blacks supporting a photo ID requirement. That said, a full 28 percent of Democrats and 30 percent of likely Harris voters oppose a photo ID requirement.

The public also strongly supports the idea of allowing election observers to watch over the election process, including the handling of absentee ballots, which caused controversy in 2020. Americans say election volunteers should be able to watch over the process, including the handling of absentee ballots, by a margin of 73 percent to 12 percent. 

Americans also say by a greater than two-to-one margin (44 percent to 18 percent), they believe those who sign up to be election observers are more interested in protecting election integrity than on “intimidating voters”, as some Democrats have alleged.

Elections are far less secure than they could be, and many left-wing states are pushing for less security, not more. Less than half of U.S. states currently require a photo ID to vote, with many states allowing those who request a ballot to provide a “signature” and no photograph. Twenty-four states ask voters to present IDs with a photo to cast their ballot, while eleven states request “other identification” which can be a signature or non-photo document. Fifteen states, including California, Minnesota, New Mexico, Nevada, Washington, and a bulk of New England states including Maine, New York, and Vermont, do not require identification in order to vote.  

Even proof of citizenship – something you would think would be a basic requirement – is controversial among left-wing extremists who seek to capitalize on a flood of illegal aliens into the nation. 

The House of Representatives, led by Republicans, passed a proof-of-citizenship requirement for voter registration in July of this year, but that bill is likely to die in the Democrat-heavy Senate unless power shifts on Nov. 5.  

The House legislation requiring proof of citizenship to vote was also strongly opposed by the Biden-Harris administration, something Vice President Harris should be asked to explain if she  ever appears in front of the press before November.    

Americans are concerned about a patchwork of lax voter ID laws across the country, and largely believe a photo ID and proof of U.S. citizenship should be the standard to participate in elections. 

The bulk of Americans are also supportive of election onlookers overseeing the election process including ballot processing to ensure nothing is amiss. Addressing voter concerns about the election should not be controversial – most Americans strongly support enforcing the law. We can’t say the same thing for everyone in government, which is troubling.

Manzanita Miller is the senior political analyst at Americans for Limited Government.

To view online: https://dailytorch.com/2024/09/after-2020-election-debacle-vast-majority-of-americans-support-laws-to-prevent-voter-fraud/

Evan Barker: I Raised Millions for Democrats. At the DNC, I Realized They're the Party of the Rich

By Evan Barker

Over the past six years, I've raised tens of millions of dollars for the Democrats. I've given thousands of hours of my mind, heart, and soul to get Democrats elected, as a Democratic fundraising consultant for federal Senate and House candidates and Left-leaning national organizations.But my work with Democrats started in high school, when I was an alternate-delegate for Hillary Clinton. Later, I interned on Barack Obama's campaign. Most recently, I volunteered at last month's Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Initially, I was thrilled to attend this rite of passage for every political operative. But once there, wandering amidst the glitz and glam, imbibing the gloss and schmaltz of it all, I couldn't escape a sinking feeling. I felt submersed in a hollow chamber whose mottos were "Brat summer" and "Joy"—totally out of touch with regular, every-day Americans and their pressing needs; instead, the most elite people in the world chanted in unison that "We're not going back!"

I found myself feeling disenchanted, lost, sad, and alone.

As someone who has given her life to Democratic politics, it was devastating. But if I'm being honest, it wasn't totally surprising.

I grew up a long ways away from the glitz, glamor, and ostentatious wealth I'd become accustomed to seeing in and around Democratic politics. I'm from the Heartland, near Kansas City. My family floated between working poor and middle class. My parents were divorced, and neither has a college degree. As is the case with many American families far from the Acela corridor, my mom's yearly income determined if I would live in a house, apartment, or mobile home, if I would attend decent schools or the worst in town. On top of that, I was born with a rare genetic lung disease that made me chronically ill my whole life. As a child, I experienced firsthand health insurance denials, putting intense pressure on my family's finances.

My family background is messy. But there was one constant: Many of my family members are proud construction workers and lifelong union members. I grew up believing that the Democrats were our party.

Fast forward to today, and many of those same family members are no longer Democrats. They feel the party has changed, left them behind.

At the DNC, I couldn't help but think about my family. Every time the elites chanted "We're not going back," what I heard was, "We're not going back to the party your union family members used to vote for."

Looking back now, I realize that my dissatisfaction grew slowly, bubbling just beneath the surface for a long time. In 2017, I started raising money for campaigns, working fancy fundraisers hosted by wealthy financiers, billionaire heiresses, and corporate CEOs, many of whom gave to Democrats and Republicans equally. I led candidates through hours a day of soullessly dialing up rich people and begging them for money. Not only do candidates spend most of their time talking to the rich, but the only path to elected office is to be rich, or to know lots of rich people.

Here's the thing about donors: They have niche policy issues they care about that seldom reflect the needs of people back home. Democrats love to decry money in politics when it comes to the Koch brothers or Elon Musk, but the billionaires who support Democrats are given a total pass and have a huge influence over policy.

At first, I naively thought the system was broken. But now I realize, it isn't broken; it's doing what it was designed to do, which is to keep working class people from true representation. That is the point, a feature, not a bug.

Of course, this occurs in the Republican Party, too. But Democrats are bigger hypocrites about it.

These realizations pushed me from moderate Democrats to progressive candidates who rejected corporate PAC money, embraced a higher minimum wage, endorsed universal health care, and criticized the Party's corporate wing. But when you're working with progressives, you get a front-row seat to how the establishment beats and batters candidates out of step with the party line.

So my progressives lost. A lot. And it was always to the same old, tired playbook of dark money from super PACs pouring in, or major Democratic arms like the DCCC and DSCC putting their thumb on the scale, endorsing the anointed candidate early instead of letting the people choose. This is how they blocked Bernie.

But even the progressives are part of the problem now. They were once focused on policies that improved people's lives, promising to be unbought and uncompromisable. But after the summer of 2020, that rhetoric all but faded away. They've become compromised by the social justice language and divisive identity politics that now dominates the entire Democratic ecosystem.

Perhaps the most shocking of all is how the Democrats have embraced Bush-era foreign policy to become the party of war. Instead of rebuilding the working class communities that have been hit hardest by their neoliberal trade policies, they've spent $175 billion funding the war in Ukraine.

It was the cherry on the cake that Vice President Kamala Harris has been proudly touting an endorsement from Dick Cheney. Dick Cheney!

Here's the sad truth: The Democratic Party has lost its way entirely. They mostly speak to the college educated, the urban and affluent, in their language. Their tone is condescending and paternalistic. They peddle giveaways to the college-educated like student loan forgiveness plans that disproportionately help their base, snubbing the majority of the country without a four-year degree, and then offer no tangible plans for true reform.

I moved to San Francisco from Kansas City a few years ago, and the attitudes I have since encountered have further cemented my beliefs. I've literally had people laugh in my face as they called my home state "dumb-f**k-istan."

When I went to the DNC last month, I was truly hoping to be re-inspired, to feel the same love for the party I felt as a teenager when I pounded the pavement for Barack Obama. I can still recall the immense joy I felt after he won, running into the street with hundreds of other people to dance to "Thriller."

But instead of giving me back that feeling, the DNC was where it finally hit me: It's impossible to unsee what I've seen. I can only go forward.

I'm not going back.

To view online: https://www.newsweek.com/i-raised-millions-democrats-dnc-i-realized-theyre-party-rich-opinion-1955377