Playing Favorites With Taxpayer Money

America is a free country, and Americans are free to invest their savings and wealth anywhere they choose to invest it.  However, the government is supposed to be a marketplace neutral entity that has some sort of fiscal responsibility.  Needless to say, that works in theory, but not always in practice.  But every now and then, someone decides to attempt to change the practice and bring it more into line with the theory.  That happened recently.

CNS News reported Friday that Representative Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) is introducing a bill in Congress that will end energy subsidies in certain areas of the energy market. 

The article points out:

"Pompeo, a freshman who worked with the natural gas industry before being elected to Congress, said he believes in the industry and is an advocate of expanded domestic development.

""What we don't need to do is use our tax code to subsidize them and pick them and favor them," Pompeo said.

"He said that the free market works well and if allowed to work without restriction in the energy marketplace, the best energy resources and technologies will emerge.

""If we will just knock away the barriers, if we get rid of the regulatory impediments, we'll create the next great American energy," Pompeo said.

"In a May 11 letter to congressional colleagues, Pompeo said that in 2009 the federal government spent $18 billion on energy subsidies."

There are a number of interesting aspects of this bill.  First of all, Representative Pompeo is a freshman Congressman.  He hasn't been in Washington long enough to be part of the status quo.  Secondly, he has experience in the natural gas industry and knows what he is talking about.  I have no idea what Representative Pompeo's relationship with the Tea Party is, but it seems to me that he is the kind of candidate they (and everyone else) should be promoting.  He does not seem to be a professional politician, he has common sense, and he has business experience.  Washington needs Congressmen who understand business and are willing to do what they can to pass sensible laws that promote economic growth in America--not Congressmen who want to determine who prospers and who does not.