Trump for President: AEA Endorsement
By Robert Bradley Jr. -- October 31, 2024“If given a second term, I have no doubt you will pursue and achieve numerous additional victories for the American people, including reducing the size and influence of the federal government in our daily lives, maintaining our status as the number one energy producer in the world, reducing the involvement of the federal government in energy markets, and preserving our ability to choose the types of cars and trucks that best suit our needs. In other words, your energy agenda will return those decisions to consumers, families, and businesses.” – Tom Pyle, American Energy Alliance (below)
The American Energy Alliance is the advocacy arm of the Institute for Energy Research, a principled educational nonprofit in favor of voluntary transactions between consenting adults, which means a free market in energy anchored on private property rights and the rule of law. Classical liberalism is the worldview of IER/AEA.
The September 5, 2024, letter of endorsement from AEA president Tom Pyle to Donald Trump follows:
Dear President Trump:
On behalf of the American Energy Alliance (AEA), the country’s premier pro-consumer, pro-taxpayer, and free-market energy organization, I am proud to endorse your candidacy for President of the United States.
Under your leadership, the United States became the world’s largest producer of oil and natural gas, greatly enhancing our energy security in the process. You kept energy prices low, which helped the poor, the elderly, those on fixed incomes, and local institutions like schools and hospitals. As promised, you also reduced duplicative regulatory burdens and helped save American families thousands of dollars each year in needless regulatory costs.
This is in stark contrast to your opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, who has supported policies that restrict energy production and increase costs, aligning with wealthy environmental interests and bureaucrats in Washington. Her approach, influenced by the Green New Deal, is harmful to working and middle-class Americans.
If given a second term, I have no doubt you will pursue and achieve numerous additional victories for the American people, including reducing the size and influence of the federal government in our daily lives, maintaining our status as the number one energy producer in the world, reducing the involvement of the federal government in energy markets, and preserving our ability to choose the types of cars and trucks that best suit our needs. In other words, your energy agenda will return those decisions to consumers, families, and businesses.
For all of these reasons, and many more, I am proud to announce AEA’s endorsement of Donald J. Trump for reelection and look forward to four more years of putting America’s energy interests first
Comment: IER is scholarly and non-partisan, which is the approach of this website. I have reviewed many energy/climate platforms in the current election, not only Trump’s. On the Left: Democrat Party, Green Party, Cornel West for President, and The Party For Socialism and Liberation. On the free-market side, GOP Platform, Libertarian Party, American Petroleum Institute, Heritage Foundation/Agenda 25, and America First Policy Institute.
The criteria for endorsement is energy freedom, a maximal separation of government and energy (oil, gas, coal, nuclear, renewables, electricity). This begins but does not end with Donald Trump. The U.S. Department of Energy should be abolished with its non-civilian functions transferred to other agencies for separate scrutiny. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) should be abolished with enabling legislation (Federal Power Act of 1935; Federal Natural Gas Act of 1938) repealed. The energy functions within the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) should be ended with enabling legislation such as the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act repealed,
New subsidies for favored energies should not be proposed or enacted under a Trump Administration. No special tax breaks for oil, gas, coal, and LNG. No subsidies for existing or new nuclear capacity. Eliminate subsidies, do not add to them. Fair field, no favor; a free, unhampered market for all.
And there are critics from the ‘experts’–the smarter class….
