Slate‘s Jacob Weisburg details the political hypocrisy (from both sides of the aisle) following the latest rise in oil prices. He notes that Republicans are currently questioning free market principles (ordering an investigation into price gouging, despite the fact an investigation last year turned up nothing but good old capitalism was at work) while Democrats are trying to be for gasoline (in the form of lower prices via suspending federal gas taxes) while they are against it (decrying the environmental harm of fossil fuels).

I’m not sure who is worse–the Republicans who have given up on the free market (and the oil companies they love so well) or Democrats who have given up on environmental concerns in the name of lower prices. What we really need right now is a politician who will say what this country needs to hear: higher fuel prices are exactly the bitter medicine we need to get over our addiction to oil.

Posted on 27 April 2006