EDITORIAL: Biden prefers having slaves produce oil

Aug. 15—Social media pundits boast of burning their MyPillow products to protest the owner's social views. They won't eat at Chick-fil-A because of the founder's religious views about same-sex marriage.

These puritanical purveyors of virtue take every opportunity to tell us Black lives matter, a point on which most Americans fully agree. It is cool to snub the flag and condemn the United States as the helplessly oppressive product of a 1619 slave ship.

To rid themselves of products made by icky mean people, wannabe wokesters should stop driving, cycling, flying or doing just about anything most Americans do. They must strip naked. But first, they should call upon their leader — President Joe Biden — to stop begging for oil extracted and shipped by slaves and abused, barely paid workers.

When the U.S. became the world's leading oil producer after then-President Donald Trump reduced regulations, entry-level oil workers earned average salaries of $76,000. The top 25% make six figures and more for manual labor.

These jobs require no high school diploma and can fund the American dream. Workers earn pensions and vacation time. Federal safety regulations, union contracts and personal protective gear protect them. Biden minces few words in telling us how much he despises this arrangement. Running for election, he told coal miners to "learn to code" before he kills their jobs with excessive regulations. His first order of business on the day of his inauguration ended construction on North America's Keystone XL pipeline. With the swipe of a pen, Biden-the-common-man ended careers before he restricted oil drilling on federal lands and waived restrictions on a Russian gas pipeline.

Woke does not come easy for Biden, as his lifelong political career is littered with racist statements. Barack Obama is the first Black American who is an "articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy." One needs an Indian accent to shop at 7-Eleven. School integration puts children in a "racial jungle." "Poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids." A former Klan organizer was "a dear friend." The list goes on.

From the president of the United States, words can escalate slavery, worker abuse and general human misery. So expect more of all of the above.

After years of demonizing U.S. production of crude — so the economy can function and people can do their jobs — Biden seems panicked about prices at the pump and the universal inflation that follows. Consider a memo Biden's national security adviser quietly sent to OPEC+ on Wednesday, groveling for crude.

"Higher gasoline costs, if left unchecked, risk harming the ongoing global recovery. ... Competitive energy markets will ensure reliable and stable energy supplies, and OPEC+ must do more to support the recovery."

Biden's desperate plea means more demand for slaves and more dangerous well emissions that respect no borders. Foreign oil workers often work without pay or the protections of hardhats, let alone the protections offered and enforced by states and the federal government's Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Oh, and those federal policies against offending fellow employees for their ethnicity or religion? OPEC members laugh.

Biden's executive order in January demands energy "Made in America." It directs agencies responsible for energy to "strictly enforce the prevailing wage and benefit guidelines of the Davis Bacon and other acts and encourage Project Labor Agreements." It demands workers have "a chance to join a union."

One could write a tome on the actions and words of Biden that undermine domestic crude after our country spent generations pursuing energy independence and workers' rights. If we want energy workers safe, paying dues to unions, earning high wages and receiving the protections of OSHA and other safeguards, we have a moral duty to produce the amount of fuel we need.

When the president discourages and obstructs domestic production — a pillar of the Biden doctrine — his government cannot guarantee fair wages, workplace safety or any of the federal regulations that mitigate the most detrimental effects of oil, gas and coal production. Black lives matter for sure and should matter at home and abroad.

Our president has established a newfound dependence on foreign oil. As history proves, we will send our young people to war under this arrangement and see them return in body bags and wheelchairs. Fashionable climate change talk at the cocktail party won't change this fact in our lifetimes. More domestic oil extraction will.

No less evil than oil wars are the human rights conditions Biden exacerbates while begging for oil. We ended slavery in the USA, yet we have the audacity to increase our dependence on slaves abroad. Consider life in much of OPEC Land, based on a sample of reports from Amnesty International:

OPEC's Algeria imprisons and forces labor on members of the LGBTQ community. Sounds like slavery. It forbids trade unions. The government commits mass and arbitrary expulsions of immigrants.

OPEC's Congo forces have impunity to commit grave human rights violations, including extrajudicial, summary executions.

OPEC's Equitorial Guinea wants legislation to ensure discrimination against LGBTQ individuals and enslaved sex workers.

OPEC's Libyan authorities control expression, association and assembly. The government flogs, enslaves, imprisons, and kills religious minorities, protesters and human rights activists.

None of the OPEC or OPEC+ countries (think Russia) share anything approaching the level of America's respect for civil rights, workplace protections or the environment. Yet, Biden wants to buy their oil in lieu of energy extracted under U.S. standards.

Biden, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, Democratic Colorado Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper and other leading Democrats want less domestic oil. It seems they prefer importing our most important commodity from less scrupulous countries that enslave and abuse people out of sight and mind. For the stupid among us, at least it feels good.

The Gazette editorial board