The far left approach to environmental and energy issues is wrong, leading to no solutions at all. A free market, conservative approach is best, avoiding dead ends, avoiding liberal paranoia, avoiding liberal anti-business sentiments.

We should sound like opponents of the ill-considered approach of the Democrats.

One example worthy of some consideration is that offered by Toby Nixon, for example, in the following excerpts from his June 14, 2006 campaign kickoff rally:

Online http://www.tobynixon.com/news.htm#a178

Nixon remarks on environmental protection at 2006 Campaign Kickoff
Bellevue (June 14, 2006) -- At the campaign kickoff breakfast for his 2006 campaign for State Senate in the 45th District, before an audience of nearly 300 people, Rep. Toby Nixon made the following remarks:

When I first came before you six years ago and asked for your support to represent you in the legislature, I told you that I was committed to the fundamental principles that made this country great: individual liberty, personal responsibility, limited government, and the free market. Some other legislators seem to just drift with the current of public opinion, but I still hold fast to these principles today, and I always will.
My legislative priorities have been and will remain the same: to keep our communities safe for our families, and help people protect their lives, liberty, and property; to enable private-sector economic development and job creation; and to restore trust in government.
Some people have made note of the fact that I've been an active participant in the ongoing debates on protecting our Northwest environment. I'm a member of the state executive committee of Republicans for Environmental Protection -- which is not an oxymoron, by the way. I helped found a new group called the "Washington Environmental Roundtable" to try to reach bipartisan consensus on environmental issues. But as you know, the environmental community doesn't always see eye to eye with Republicans and they certainly doesn't base their positions on the same principles we do, some people might wonder why I've focused on the environment as an issue.
Ever since my younger slimmer days when I hiked 100 miles through the Trinity Alps in California and spent a lot of other time in the outdoors as a Boy Scout, I've had a great love for our natural environment and a desire to protect it.
The fact is, people shouldn't be surprised that Republicans care about the environment. Just look at history; Republicans have a proud legacy of conservation and environmental leadership. The national park system was created by a Republican president -- Teddy Roosevelt. Another Republican president, Richard Nixon (no relation), signed into law the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and the Marine Mammal Protection Act, among others. The root word of "conservative" and "conservation" is the same. True conservatives take to heart the scriptural admonition to be wise stewards, to take care of the earth so that we can pass it down to our posterity.
Clearly, we and our liberal friends share an interest in protecting the environment. Where we disagree is on how best to accomplish it. If nobody speaks up and offers solutions that are consistent with our principles, then their way of doing it gets implemented, almost by default. But their way carries a great risk of destroying our way of life. Let me tell you why.
It is only by respecting property rights and the free market that we can protect the environment in a sustainable way, for the long term. Why is that? Caring about the environment is a luxury that only a prosperous society can afford.
If you doubt me, think on the images you've seen of poor countries around the world. Do they look like places where protection of the environment is a high priority? Every waterway is an open sewer -- but people get their drinking water there anyway. The land is stripped bare as people collect wood to burn or to make room to grow crops. The air is polluted with the burning of that wood and animal dung.
People who are living on a subsistence level, who spend every waking hour just trying to find their next meal, don't have time to care about the environment!
If you look at the United States and other wealthy countries, you can see the benefit to the environment of having a robust economy. As a society, we have so much excess wealth that we pay for swarms of government agents to look after the environment for us. Millions of people use their free time to enjoy the natural environment and to voluntarily work on projects to improve and preserve it.
Can you imagine the extreme irony if, in the name of protecting the environment, we were to destroy our economy, and with it the very engine that enables us to care about protecting the environment?
So what does it take to have a robust economy that generates enough wealth so that both we as individuals and as a society can afford to care about the environment?
In a recent article in Imprimis, published by Hillsdale College, Steve Forbes outlined five basic principles of economic growth.
The first is the rule of law. Due Process. Equality before the law. Without it, you have a dictatorship in which those in power help their friends, and barriers are placed in the way of starting new businesses that compete.
The second is property rights. People simply will not invest in a business, or a home, or anything else, unless they believe their investment is secure and won't be taken from them by whoever has a bigger gun.
The third principle is low taxes. Taxes that are too high are a disincentive to work, to success, and to risk-taking. We've seen again and again that when taxes are too high, the economy stagnates, and when taxes are lowered, the economy takes off again. Our problem is not that our taxes are too low, but that government spends too much!
The fourth essential principle is limited regulation. Economic growth depends on it being simple to start and operate businesses; we don't need bureaucrats meddling in every detail.
And the fifth principle is free trade. Expanding markets and creating greater opportunity for trade benefits everyone.
Too often, liberals in Olympia and Washington DC ignore the rule of law, ignore our property rights, tax everything in sight at exorbitant rates, and impose burdensome regulations and trade restrictions that make it almost impossible to operate a business at a profit and to create jobs. They say they care about the environment, but they don't seem to understand the essential link between a robust economy and environmental protection. It is our responsibility to teach them.
We can't "Just Vote No" on their proposals. We must be creative, step up and propose solutions that protect the environment and protect our property rights, that protect the environment and enable job creation, that protect the environment and keep the government in check and hold it accountable.
So why am I involved in environmental issues? I refuse to just stand back and throw stones. What I will do is step into the middle of the debate, bring people together, and find common-sense solutions that accomplish everyone's goals in a way that is consistent with our fundamental principles of individual liberty, personal responsibility, limited government, and the free market. That is called leadership. We need more of it today. Send me back to Olympia, and that is what you will get.
My friends, the thing to remember is this: freedom works. The free market works. Whatever problems face us -- transportation, education, health care, creating jobs, economic development, housing, the environment, I could go on and on -- the answer in every case is to turn away from the path toward bigger government that we've been on, and return to the divinely-inspired principles that guided our founding fathers.
With your help, I will return to Olympia and continue that fight on your behalf. Thank you very much!