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In a moment of accidental candor, Rep. Maxine Waters blurted out before God and everybody, that her answer to rising gas prices is nationalization of the petroleum industry. This revelation of her true socialist philosophy came in response to what was perhaps the most important message delivered during the recent Congressional hearings on gas prices.

This prediction came from Shell Oil President, John Hofmeister.

"I can guarantee to the American people because of the inaction of the United States Congress, ever-increasing prices, unless the demand comes down, and that $5 will look like a very low price in the years to come if we are prohibited from finding new reserves, new opportunities to increase supplies."

Maxine Waters replied:

"And guess what this liberal will be all about? This liberal will be about socializing -- would be about, basically, taking over, and the government running all of your companies."

Maxine: read the Constitution. Where does the Constitution give Congress -- even a liberal Democrat Congress -- authority to even think about nationalizing, or socializing the oil companies?

It is absurd for liberal Democrat Maxine Waters to chastise and threaten the oil companies because oil prices are high - when the reason prices are high is because Democrats have repeatedly blocked every effort to increase the supply. There is at least a 60 to 70 year known supply of domestic oil available. Had Democrats allowed these reserves to be developed as requested over the years, supplies would more closely match demand, and competition in the marketplace would keep the price at its' minimum.

Apparently, Maxine Waters and her liberal Democrat colleagues, have more faith in Hugo Chavez's formula than in the founding fathers' faith in free markets.

Government's refusal to let the free market work in the oil industry is the primary reason why gas prices are spiraling upward. More government control, as Maxine Waters threatened, would simply make a bad situation even worse.

There are two unmistakable messages to take from the Waters-Hofmeister exchange: (1) Government must get out of the way and allow free markets to utilize the known domestic petroleum reserves, and (2) Maxine Waters, and her liberal Democrat colleagues, should read the Constitution -- again, and again, and again, if necessary, to understand that the power of government is limited to those powers enumerated. All other powers remain with the states, or with the individual people.

This is not a hard concept to understand. It is hard for people such as Maxine Waters and Hugo Chavez to accept, but it is not hard to understand. Liberal Democrats, and far too many "progressive" Republicans, refuse to accept the concept of limited government power. Government intervention into the market place is justified only to ensure consumer safety and honest competition. Beyond this, government intervention into business affairs creates a drag on the economy, and the greater the intervention, the heavier the weight that drags down the economy.

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