Gingrich on Gulf Oil Disaster: “It’ll Be Fine”

Michigan should declare Detroit to be a tax-free zone, like Puerto Rico, for the next 10 years in an effort to generate economic activity, Newt Gingrich said in a keynote address to the Mackinac Policy Conference. Gingrich also proffered a variety of other ideas for revitalizing Michigan's economy and Detroit.

It's interesting that the former U.S. Speaker of the House should be so quick to provide answers for what ails Michigan when, from what I can tell, he knows very little about the state. And, the sincerity of his advice is especially circumspect since his trip to Mackinac Island coincides with a press junket to publicize his new book, “To Save America: Stopping Obama’s Secular-Socialist Machine.”

In the book, Gingrich argues that “the modern left – what can only be understood as a 'secular-socialist machine' – is a fundamental threat to America's survival.

"[T]he lethal combination of high tax, big bureaucracy and radically secular policies imposed through a ruthless political machine will radically transform our country to something we barely recognize as America."

This is certainly a flip-flop from his position in 2008, when he starred in an ad with Nancy Pelosi, saying "But we do agree our country must take action to address climate change." Why team up to curb climate-changing emissions if you are going to write a book about how their side is harming America --- with taxes? Hmmm, perhaps we really shouldn't be taking advice from a guy who can't make up his mind on such fundamental issues in the first place.

Last month, Gingrich was asked, in light of the devastation wrought by the BP oil spill, whether it’s time to reevaluate his support for increasing offshore drilling. Gingrich, the brains behind the “Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less” campaign, has continued to push for additional fields to offshore drilling, saying “I think most Americans realize that in the long run we need the oil.”

Gingrich said, “I think that there was a specific mistake made. I think it can be fixed. It’s the first oil well big problem in American since 1969. So I think when people put it in perspective it’ll be fine.”

How sad. That's almost exactly what Rush Limbaugh had to say about the petroleum now gushing into the sea: “It's natural. It's as natural as the ocean water is."

Gingrich’s eagerness to downplay the ramifications of the spill should come as no surprise. His group American Solutions for Winning the Future reputedly “shar[es] resources [and] coordinating efforts” with the American Petroleum Institute, the largest oil lobby vehemently opposed to clean energy and climate legislation, which conducted a campaign to counter the American Clean Energy Security Act by "astroturfing."

That everything is, or will be, "fine" is not the mindset this state, or the nation needs. We must take calculated, sustained actions in order to see our cities prosper, ensure public protection of our wild places, and the development of our national energy policy.

Instead of viewing a price on carbon emissions as an arbitrary “energy tax,” it is important to remember that the current bill in the Senate would stabilize energy prices and establish a market for energy entrepreneurs in renewable energy industries, in which Michigan has the capacity to do very well.

So, while making Detroit a tax-free zone sounds all well and good, why don't we actually do something we know will create jobs, help keep us from ever having to expand drilling in vulnerable locations, and curb our addiction to foreign fuels?

And, Newt --- maybe you can change your mantra to “Kill the Drill” instead.

--- Posted by Mark Neisler

--- Image courtesy of Bill Emkow | MLive.com; video courtesy of www.wecansolveit.org