This year’s State of the Union address was an opportunity for President Biden to unite the nation during a time of heightened tension and unrest. All eyes were on our president to finally project strength.
President Biden condemned Putin’s actions but if he was serious about standing up to him, he would hit him where it hurts: the energy market. Instead of the unsustainable renewables, expensive electric cars, and stifling regulations he mentioned, he would have announced the immediate stop of Russian petroleum and crude oil imports. Now is the time to unleash production of American natural gas and get our producers and drillers back to work. Our country is seeing firsthand that our national security depends on it.
Rather than address solutions to his many self-made crises, President Biden touted liberal legislation that will only prolong them. After telling Americans he knew their economic burden and would bring down costs, he pushed more government spending that will only continue to drive inflation. After acknowledging the opioid epidemic, he failed to mention the 11,000 pounds of fentanyl that came through our Southern border in 2021 alone.
Try as he might, the President cannot rewrite the past year. The American people are smarter than that. Americans are paying more for just about everything and their constitutional freedoms are under attack. They will not forget who caused it.
Our democracy is what makes our country such a special place. The opportunity to pursue what we want and the liberty to do so is the beauty of the American Dream. Oklahomans understand this. Ninety-nine percent of businesses in Oklahoma are small businesses and each one started with an entrepreneur who had an idea on how to make their community a better place. It’s not overregulation and increased bureaucracy that allow an entrepreneur to thrive. It’s the government stepping out of the way.
We are blessed to be Americans. If the tragedy in Ukraine has shown us anything, it is that freedom is never free. Every American should know this. This was the reminder our country needed on Tuesday. Not a checklist of misguided policy. If we want to come together and move forward, our president must put our country first.