What more proof do you need, Rep. Palmer?

Re:  Keystone pipeline

Dear Representative Palmer:

Everyone in our country needs energy.

Also, most everyone wants to protect the environment, for ourselves and for future generations.

Any person with intelligence knows there are trade offs to be made between energy and the environment.

The possible trade offs are varied and complex.

The country has been choosing among possible trade offs for decades, and there are many years in front of us for figuring out energy versus the environment.

Rep. Palmer, wouldn't you think that the American people should have a President and a Congress that recognize the reality of all of us having similar concerns in the trade offs between energy and the environment? Should not such President and Congress tell the American people they will consider the current situation and they will develop and put forth a consensus proposal of what they think the next step should be for the country?  Then, the American people, understanding that trade offs are necessary, can decide whether the proposal of the President and Congress is within rational boundaries for striking a balance between energy and the environment. There is a possibility of a massive reaction against the proposal as being grossly deficient and not being a rational balancing of energy and the environment. If, however, such a reaction does not happen, that should be grounds for a general acceptance of what has been done, the consensus proposal can be put in operation without shrieking hoohah, and the President, Congress and the country can turn their attention to other pressing matters.

Wouldn't you think that's what the American people should get from their President and Congress as regards energy and the environment?

But no, that is not what the American people get.

Instead, as an example that epitomizes what is wrong with Washington DC, the American people have been served up for seven years the inanity of how Congress, the President and the rest of the political class in Washington have dealt with the Keystone XL pipeline.

That long running inanity came back into the headlines this past week with the President's disapproval of the pipeline.

Such inanity, it can be predicted, is going to continue, it will play a role in the 2016 elections, and it will persist after election day next November.

I ask you, Rep. Palmer, why do the American people need to continue to put up with this inanity for more years to come?

What do you say?

Do you say I am incorrect in calling this performance inanity? Do you say this is our political system and our Federal government working the way they should work?

Or do you wish to point the finger at the Democrats for being the cause of inanity?

That is what you wanted to do in 2014.

Have you learned anything from your 11 months in Congress that causes you to view this matter any differently now?

Please tell your 6th Congressional district constituents about this.

Thank you.