Where the Tea Party has taken us...

It's not likely we'll ever again have the opportunity to use a news item from the Oil And Gas Financial Journal, but here's their piece on Kentucky's Tea Party Senator, Rand Paul, and his fight to end government regulation of business:

San Bruno CA gas pipe explosion

Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky is single-handedly blocking federal legislation on pipeline safety that the pipeline industry overwhelmingly supports. Paul says he opposes the regulation on “philosophical grounds.” He was elected to the Senate in 2010 with Tea Party support, and Paul and that group are committed to reducing government regulations and “downsizing” the federal government.

Paul is the lone member of the US Senate who opposes a bill that would strengthen safety rules for oil and gas pipelines, a measure that some of the largest trade associations in the pipeline industry, including the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA), the American Gas Association (AGA), and the Association of Oil Pipelines, support.

The bill has managed to gain the support of 99 members of the Senate, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who also represents Paul’s home state of Kentucky. The only dissenter is Paul, who like his father and fellow libertarian, US Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), has long opposed federal regulation of private businesses. Paul even opposes safety regulations for coal mines and says they should manage their own safety requirements.

A deadly gas pipeline explosion near San Francisco last year, along with various other incidents, has created a rare consensus in Congress among Republicans and Democrats that current federal regulations need to be strengthened. The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee approved the bill in May without opposition.

Responding to criticism, Paul commented that if companies don’t make good rules to protect their people, no one will apply for those jobs.

We have the Tea Party and it's anti-government hysteria to thank for the election of Rand Paul who proclaimed upon his victory, "There’s a Tea Party tidal wave and we’re sending a message..."  He's merely applying the Tea Party fringe's viscerally anti-government logic in a "consistent" and "principled" way - "Get the government off of our backs."  Paul is also notorious for opposing the Civil Rights Act as intrusive of private business in outlawing racial discrimination.

Ironically, this anti-regulation fervor is a bridge too far even for the oil and gas industry itself. Thanks to a tiny-but-vocal minority of people in funny hats carrying crazy signs calling for return to an imagined past, an empowered crackpot is "single-handedly blocking" legislation to increase public safety in a critical area.  Hopefully Rand Paul's demonstrable craziness and lack of even the most minimal sense of responsibility as a legislator will be a wake-up call to Kentucky voters and this Tea Party crank won't be rewarded with a second term for his weird "principles."