A Winning Strategy For Democrats: Do Nothing

As kids during World War II, we had no doubt that we would beat the Nazis. As we got older and discovered that Germany was one of the most scientifically advanced nations at that time, we realized we could have just as easily lost.
What America did was simply overpower the Axis powers, specifically Nazi Germany, by producing unheard of quantities of war material. Germany had the quality and the technological edge. We simply overwhelmed them with quantity, not quality. Their science and engineering was pragmatic and superior to the technology of the Allies. We won just in time.
Towards the end of the war, they had the world's first jet fighter (Messerschmitt 262) and the first rocket-powered fighter (Messerschmitt 163), while we had piston engine P-51 Mustangs. Their superior weapons were referred to as "German secret weapons" by the Allies, and "wonder weapons" by the Germans. After the war, the U.S. and the Soviets grabbed all the German scientists they could. (We all know of Wernher von Braun.)
Think about this truism: Germany led the world into the jet age, and Germany led the world into space. Amazing. Yet, it doesn't end there.
Not so well known is they also led the world in the production of synthetic gasoline and other fuels. American kids knew about gasoline rationing during the war. I remember my dad having a sticker in his windshield which meant he was entitled to about a thimbleful of gas a week. (He could back out of the driveway - but that was it.) However, we didn't have any understanding about "synthetic" gasoline, anymore than we did about synthetic rubber tires.
The Germans were faced with this problem even before the war. They knew that their very destiny depended upon who controlled fuel supplies. They had to do something. They realized they would run out of fuel stockpiles very early in the war. (This is precisely why we should be on a "war footing" right now.) Their petroleum shortfalls could only be made up with oil from Russia. They captured one of Russia's smaller oil fields, but failed to take two larger oil fields that would have solved their fuel problems. So they had to depend on Romania's oil - their ally - but their oil fields and refineries were destroyed in air raids in 1943. I remember that. It was in the newspapers.
Germany never had any oil deposits to speak of, but they had lots of coal. So long before the war their scientists took steps to develop synthetic methods of producing gasoline and oil from coal; since both coal and petroleum are both a mixture of hydrocarbons. As usual, Germans scientists pulled it off with a hydrogenation process that changed coal directly into gasoline. Hydrogenation plants were built, but later destroyed in bombing raids. The German high command said, "with them stands and falls our entire ability to wage war."
Well, there are some remarkable similarities between Germany then, and the U.S. now: They had a lot of coal, but nothing like us. We have the largest coal reserves in the world - more than Germany ever had. This is an incredible energy resource that could ensure our independence from foreign oil. And we are "waging war" with OPEC.
But the problem is that environmentalists - one of the Democrats important constituencies - hate coal. Yet the coal-to-liquids technology produces a product cleaner - low in sulfur - and at a price point that is ridiculously cheaper than what OPEC now wants for their crude. (And technology has come a long way since the 1930s in Germany.)
What is Congress - controlled by Democrats - doing to help Americans during this gasoline crisis? Republicans have pleaded for years to at least drill for our own oil, but Democrats have even blocked that. Well, they are investigating the hiring practices of the U.S. Justice Department. They admit U.S. Attorneys are political appointees and serve at the pleasure of the president.
The Bush administration fired eight attorneys. Yet Webster Hubbell, associate attorney general and former law partner of partner of Hillary Clinton who was sent to jail for tax evasion and mail fraud, fired all 93 U.S. Attorneys in 1993 and gave them 10 days to move out. Bill Clinton said, "All those people are routinely replaced." Yeah, but that was then, and this is now.
And they still haven't resolved the baseball steroid scandal. J.C. Watts, former House Republican and professional football player, said, "I promise you there are a thousand things ... that could ... take precedence and priority over the BCS (college bowl championship) or Spygate (Boston Patriot scandal) or Roger Clemens (steroid use in baseball)."
No kidding? Perhaps something as trivial as gasoline prices that are killing most Americans? How about hearings and legislation on the hydrogenation of coal? Flex-fueled cars? All legislation originates in Congress. They control the Congress. They permit legislation to be introduced or reject Republican ideas. The president either signs or vetoes legislation. The ball is in the Democrat's court. They keep talking about "Bush's failed economic policies," but do nothing.
Democrats won't to do anything that makes Republicans look good. They want to win across the board in 2008 - the presidency, the Senate and the House of Representatives.
They will - by doing nothing.