Ethanol is the anchor baby of our economic system

"They won’t be able to be slurping off the gravy train." ~ Sarah Palin, during her speech endorsing Donald Trump.

Throughout the debate over birthright citizenship last year, we were told by the liberal elites in both parties that foreign nationals have the right to violate our sovereignty, drop an anchor baby in our country, assert jurisdiction, and unilaterally demand citizenship and welfare on the taxpayer dime.  At its core, the anchor baby strategy is designed to legitimize an illegitimate entitlement to other people’s sovereignty and money, absent their consent. 

In the same respect, we can say the ethanol mandate is the anchor baby of our economic system. Energy is the lifeblood of a free economy.  Much like immigration stands at the nexus of our culture, security and fiscal solvency, energy stands at the nexus of the bread and butter economic issues – jobs, income, and cost of living.  Rather than allowing Americans to use our freedom to purchase the best form of fuel, the Washington cartel ethanol lobbyists have violated our sovereignty as individual consumers and used the boot of government to mandate that we only purchase fuel blended with their ineffective product.

To paraphrase Donald Trump, only the pathetic losers and dummies in the political establishment could think it’s a good idea to take 40% of the corn crop and shove it into our engines, thereby raising the cost of food and fuel—the two staples of middle class households in America. 

Just how devastating is the ethanol mandate? 

According to a study cited by the Heartland Institute, families are forced to pay $2,055 more for food every year because 40% of the corn crop – the antecedent of the food chain – is used for fuel. A study from PricewaterhouseCoopers found that restaurants pay $18,000 more per year.

Ethanol is so impotent as a fuel for automobiles that when Rep. Ron DeSantis offered an amendment to repeal the mandate, he was told by the Congressional Budget Office that it would increase the deficit by decreasing tax revenue.  How?  By alleviating consumers from purchasing diluted fuel and allowing them to actually fill up their tanks with unvarnished gasoline, motorists wouldn’t have to refill their tanks as often as they do now.  That would result in less revenue for the government!

Hence, we have an entire venture socialist, government/corporate racket embedded in our economy that relies upon coercing individuals to purchase a terrible product.  Much like Obamacare has wreaked havoc on affordable insurance plans, we have an energy mandate that bankrupts food producers, restaurants, and consumers, all so a few cronies can slurp off the gravy train. 

The ethanol mandate was foisted upon the American people by the establishment in both parties.  Not surprisingly, Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, who is the textbook definition of the GOP establishment, is trashing Ted Cruz for opposing the anchor baby of energy policy.  Evidently, Donald Trump loves the establishment so long as they support the ethanol anchor baby. 

Wow, the highly respected Governor of Iowa just stated that "Ted Cruz must be defeated." Big shoker! People do not like Ted.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 19, 2016

Over the past few months, I’ve criticized some of the “D.C. conservative movement types” for focusing on small-potato issues while ignoring the issues pertaining to our sovereignty, security, and society.  But ethanol is not some in-the-weeds fiscal issue.  It pollutes the lifeblood of our free economy and represents the most tyrannical venture socialist policies of the political establishment.  To force Americans to purchase the defective product of well-connected cronies to service our most vital needs is a violation of our individual sovereignty the same way unconditional birthright citizenship violates our national sovereignty. 

Nobody can call themselves a conservative, much less a populist conservative, and associate themselves with the ethanol gravy train.  To quote Joe Biden: the ethanol mandate is a “big…deal.” 

Sarah Palin is absolutely right to rail against the crony capitalists and those who slurp off the gravy train.  Hopefully she will convince Donald Trump to change his mind and ignore the gravy-slurping Terry Branstad and deport the anchor baby of our economy – once and for all.