Iminent Danger: S. 3268

S. 3268, the Stop Excessive Energy Speculation Act of 2008 is underway. The Imminent Danger is to your right to do as you please without the feds interference. Essentially the Senate is looking for a scapegoat and they have picked those who make their living speculating on oil futures.

Think about it. This is the United States of America. You can grow up to do anything you wish as long as you are determined. This bill may be about energy prices on the surface, but it runs deep into your civil liberties. Please click the link to read more.

Anyone who has any experience in business or industry understands that government intrusion is a fact of life. There are a myriad of government agencies that regulated everything from A to Z. Remember, most regulations are not debated. They derive from laws enacted via Congress and the President. The law may simply have a line that reads, "Congress shall enforce this law via appropriate regulation". And regulations are not debated in Congress. The President doesn't sign or veto regulations in most cases.

Additionally, this law specifically targets one group of people. Today it's the speculators. Next week it could be the race car drivers. Week after next it'll be bloggers. But, we cannot term limit the Senate huh?

BTW I don't agree with term limits. I used to. But, the point is to allow you to live your life as you please. If you want to be a politician all your life, go for it. At least they won't regulate you to death.

Just to be sure I am not simply going off the deep end, let's read what the Democratic Policy Committee says in part about this bill. I added the bold and italics.

This legislation, developed after consultation with consumer advocates, oil market analysts, and experts from the financial and airline industries, seeks to reduce the amount of excessive speculation in the oil markets. Specifically, the legislation would increase the resources and authority needed by the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to detect, prevent, and punish price manipulation and excessive speculation and give the CFTC emergency authority needed to rapidly implement the legislation. S. 3268 would also strengthen the amount and quality of information available to the CFTC so that the Commission can better regulate all aspects of the energy futures markets.

Take a look at the first set of italics. It openly gives you an idea of who lobbied for the bill. They are the ones with the most to gain. I can't fathom why the financial bubbas would agree to further regulation. The airline industry is a no-brainer. They get to scapegoat someone so thier passengers don't revolt.

Now the bold part. We are going to take an agency of the government and throw money at it so that it can get bigger. And we are going to increase thier authority (emergency authority no less) so they can detect, prevent, and punish price manipulation and excessive speculation. And please note the last sentence. We are going to regulate "all aspects" of the energy futures markets. I hope the other futures traders are not already saddled with this.

Look, I could go on a rant over each of the provisions.

The best thing I can ask of you is to go to the site and read it.

Then read the transcript of the current MOTION TO PROCEED.

You need to look at every law passed by Congress and answer the following questions.

Is this law authorized by the enumerated powers of the Constitution?
Even if it is so authorized, is the law preventative or punitive?
Does this law expand the governments already overbearing powers over you, the law abiding citizen?

Call or write your Senators today. And tomorrow. And the next day.

Thanks for reading.