Have you been to the pumps lately? Gas prices have been rising for 21 consecutive days. Never before has the price of gas been this high for this time of year. We are used to a rise in gas prices during the summer season due to the government’s environmental regulation mandating detergent be added to fuel during this time. So don’t be surprised if gas hits over $5 dollars a gallon this summer.

With the high price of fuel comes the blame game of who is responsible for the rise at the pumps. It’s easy to blame “big oil,” the Middle East, Bush or capitalism; however, it is those who are responsible for the high cost of gas that are pointing the fingers.

Yes, the conflict in the Middle East has an impact on the cost of fuel, but it is a small fraction. The real blame lies within our own government. It has been a tactic of those on the left who are in office to raise gas prices during an election year. Then gas prices miraculously drop a month before the election so that voters forget about the pain at the pump and vote for the incumbent progressive.

In the congressional race of 2006 the cost of a gallon of gas averaged $2.30, Nancy Pelosi won Speaker of the House with her promise that gas prices would not rise and in 2007 gas hit $3 a gallon. In the summer of 2008 the cost of gas at over $3.50 a gallon became a campaign issue.

While the McCain/Palin ticket was promoting drilling on our soil, Obama was in support of higher energy prices as good for the country. Obama pushed his mass transit agenda and alternative energy sources as well as lessening our dependence on foreign oil. Obama promised oil companies would pay penalties for windfall profits, $150 billion tax payer dollars for alternative energy and the creation of 5 million jobs which would free us from foreign oil.

Well, we got Obama, along with his progressive regime, three years of record breaking unemployment and soaring energy prices as well as a dilapidated economy.

With the American people now feeling the pain at the pumps, Obama gives a speech. In a speech at the University of Miami, Obama dismissed the Republican Party’s call for more drilling. Obama stated that, “The American people aren’t stupid. There are no quick fixes to the nation’s energy problem. More drilling is a bumper sticker.”

In his weekly address, Obama claimed that it is not his administration’s fault for the rise in the cost of gas and warned that those who opposed his energy policy are just trying to gain political points.

There is no one but Obama and his regime to blame for the rise in energy costs. Look at what he has done in the three years he has been in office. In 2009, he suggested filling your tires and getting a tune-up as solutions for high gas prices. He placed moratoriums on exploration and drilling in the U.S., Alaska and the Continental Shelf. Obama’s EPA regulations have caused unnecessary barriers to obtaining the needed permits to drill. Many of the drilling platforms in the gulf that employ approximately 200 workers each have either filed for bankruptcy or moved on to other markets, adding to the rise in cost and soar in unemployment.

What does Obama do? In 2009, Obama financed oil exploration for Brazil. He lent billions of tax payer money to Brazil in order to help with their unemployment and energy needs. Apparently it is okay with Obama for others to drill for oil, just not the US.

During his presidency Obama (using tax payer dollars of course) gave billions to the alternative energy programs such as the auto industry to develop cars that run on alternative fuel sources as well as wind and solar industries with the promise of “green technology” providing jobs and reducing our dependence on oil. That proved to be fruitful.

The Chevy Volt caught on fire and many of the wind and solar companies were fraudulent and ended in bankruptcy. Biofuels proved to be more costly to produce and required an abundance of farmland to grow. We are the only country that burns its food supply for fuel.

So what is Obama’s newest solution to our high fuel cost? Pond scum. In his speech on Thursday, Feb 23, Obama stated, “We’re making new investments in the development of gasoline, and diesel and jet fuel that’s actually made from a plant-like substance- algae.” Obama went on to say, “If we can figure out how to make energy out of that, we’ll be doing all right.” The American people don’t want science fiction tales, they want solutions and they want them now.

When Jay Carney, White House press spokesman, was confronted with the rise in the gas prices, he said, “There are no magic solutions to rising oil prices. The president’s very aware of the pain Americans feel at the pump.”

There are real solutions that can be done now. We have the most natural resources of any country and yet we are unable to tap into them. We have an over abundance of coal and natural gas. Hydrofracking, which can be done safely, could tap into our natural gas supply. The Keystone Pipeline which could easily reduce the price of fuel and significantly reduce unemployment was vetoed by Obama. We can always increase drilling on our soil and build more refineries that would drastically improve our economy. These are real solutions that could make a big difference in our lives. While Obama continues to look to sci-fi novels for the answers, we will continue to feel the pain, not just at the pumps, but in every aspect of our economy.