It’s the economy, stupid: Political candidates use gas prices to fuel their campaigns

over the past several years, and it takes some creativity to make ends meet. This is a creative solution and could blaze a trail to more novel money-making initiatives.

Maybe it’s not the optimal solution, but with enough legislation getting tied down in the General Assembly, it’s still a step forward. It may fail, but it will have been worth the effort because every little bit helps.

prices bemoans less about the president and more about the people.

Critics would suggest that the president could have decreased gas prices by signing the Keystone pipeline this year. But that’s clearly bunk because a pipeline of that magnitude would have taken years to build.

Offshore drilling? Remember how well that went in the Gulf of Mexico back in 2010?

This issue goes beyond just the price of gas, conspiracies about oil speculation, overseas markets, geopolitical tension, American dependence on foreign oil or the need to switch to alternative fuel sources.

There is a serious disconnect occurring when presidential candidates can go on stage and outright lie to both American citizens and themselves and

It seems far-fetched and ridiculous; it’s so far from the norm that we have grown used to – which is precisely why this might work.

I know I look forward to cruising down “Altria Avenue” and “Dominion Drive.” CT

Shane Wade Opinion Editor

The signs of an oncoming summer are abundant, even as we just begin to enter spring: Beach wear is back on sale, honeysuckles are beginning to bloom, and gasoline prices are stretching into the $4 per gallon range.

What used to be a record is now a landmark. Although we all expect to see fuel pries to rise to such a summit, without fail, we continuously lament the rise and blame it on our politicians, particularly the president. After all, he’s head honcho, leader of the Free World and all. His hands lie upon the levers driving the domestic economy, fuel prices, and a multitude of our issues. Right? Wrong.

The President cannot directly raise or lower the price of gas, only the taxes associated with those costs.

Politicians have little power over the price of gasoline. Any seasoned and mainstream economist will tell you that. Presidential candidates that promise to bring fuel prices back down to $2 are lying to you. Presidents that blame their opposing party for the high price of gas are lying to you. They want your anger, and they want your vote.

The price of gas is dependent upon the price of crude oil, which is likewise linked to the seemingly infinite number of external global geopolitical and economic factors. Factors largely unaltered by the words and actions of the president of the United States, no matter whom it is. That’s the uncolored fact that our politicians neglect to inform you.

Our politics are littered with such ill discourse: Elected officials overestimate the powers associated with the office of the presidency and underestimate the power of externalities, though not entirely out of malice or corruption. It is unnerving and unsatisfying to hear, but some things are out of our control. Pandering politicians prostituting themselves for our votes distort an otherwise obvious issue.

The fact that 68 percent of Americans disapprove of the way President Barack Obama is dealing with high gas get away with it. When a lie of this proportion and importance is being perpetuated on the political stage, persons of authority have the responsibility to challenge it.

The trait of honesty has never been associated with politics, and I readily expect such behavior from politicians. But it’s quite another matter for us to be complacent with such distortions.

Acceptance of a fact does not nullify the need to act upon it. CT