Editor, The Herald:

When President Obama was running for office, he promised “change.” In fact, this word encapsulated his campaign's theme. A majority of voters didn't bother to discover the kind of change Mr. Obama was touting, so they voted for him on “faith” that any change would be preferable to the leadership of Senator John McCain.

Candidate Obama kept some promises, but did not keep others. For example, he promised that his reckless, brash borrowing and spending plan by the federal government would keep unemployment under eight percent, the figure quickly rose to over nine percent and remains there to this day.

On the other hand, Mr. Obama did make a promise which he kept. During the campaign, he noted that fuel prices would necessarily skyrocket under his energy plan. He implemented this plan, which included limiting drilling for oil. As could have been predicted by anyone familiar with the laws of supply and demand, the price of gasoline shot up! The day that President Obama took office, the national average cost of a gallon of regular gasoline was $1.79 per gallon. Today, according to the AAA Fuel Gauge Report, the price of a gallon of regular gasoline is $3.39 per gallon.

In addition to this economic insult to our citizenry, Mr. Obama's energy secretary, Stephen Chu, has stated that the U.S. must find a way to increase further the price of gas to the very high levels experienced in Europe. In cooperation with Mr. Obama and Mr. Chu, Transportation Secretary, Ray LaHood said that he “wanted to coerce people out of their cars.”

If the President wishes to produce jobs and revenue, opening our country's oil and gas reserves to responsible drilling and development would, in fact, quickly open well-paying jobs and increase revenue for local, state, and federal governments.

Long-term economic growth and job-creation must come from the private sector, which produces self-sustaining jobs, not from government, whose jobs soak-up tax monies generated by the private economy.

The private economy (not the federal government) is the goose that lays the golden eggs of jobs, prosperity, and wealth!

Fillmer Hevener

Farmville