A third proposal in New Direction that looks surprisingly similar to a proposal in the old direction is Lower Gas Prices And Achieve Energy Independence. Those tough talking Democrats promise to “crack down” on price gouging gas station owners and “invest” in alternative energy sources. Democrats chose to ignore the May Federal Trade Commission (FTC) report presented to Congress that found no evidence that oil companies illegally raised gas prices or constricted their gas supplies. Another memo to Democrats: Congress does not produce gasoline – oil companies do. Imposing more wrong-headed restrictions on profits and domestic drilling will drive prices up. This has been the evidence of the past 30 years, but the Democrats want the public to believe it’s the oil companies’ fault (deception).

If our goal is to increase our energy independence from the Middle East, why not allow our oil and energy companies to achieve this independence for us? It turns out that the oil companies are pretty good at discovering and refining oil anywhere on the planet and distributing it to gas stations. Congress should encourage energy independence by allowing our energy companies to tap domestic sources of oil and natural gas. Congress should also drop the excessive regulations on nuclear energy production. Eliminating regulations would encourage more innovative entrepreneurs to enter the alternative energy market. Energy independence will be achieved through less government regulation and taxation, not more government “investments.”

The rank-and-file House and Senate Democrats must not have received the New Direction plan. The same day it was announced, 42 House Democrats chose a new direction of their own, voting with 214 Republicans for a resolution declaring, “The United States will prevail in the global war on terror, [which is] the struggle to protect freedom from the terrorist adversary.” One hundred fifty-three House Democrats actually went on record with their belief that the United States will not prevail in the global war on terror. A similar vote in the Senate a day earlier was even more revealing, as 93 senators voted against requiring the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and convening a hare-brained “Iraq summit.”

The Democrats’ vision of a New Direction is nothing more than new rhetoric for the same old plan of raise taxes, increase spending and heap the burden on taxpayers and businesses. We don’t need another bumper sticker slogan from Congress. We need Congress to enact the solutions we already know will work to slow rising energy prices, fix the dysfunctional Social Security and Medicare programs and replace the out-of-date income tax code.

That doesn’t require a new direction. It requires leadership.