Thanks very much to Sen. Cornyn for his willingness to reach out to us on this issue. — Erick

Two and a half years ago, the Republican Party suffered a major blow in the 2006 midterm elections as the Democrats regained control of Congress and began laying the groundwork to take back the White House in 2008.

As a Party, we were stunned. Having failed to anticipate shifting national dynamics and the growing appetite for change in America, we lost critical voting constituencies including independents, Hispanics, and young voters nationwide. And with Barack Obama’s overwhelming victory in 2008, the Democrats acquired an even broader and stronger majority in Congress, leaving Republicans with very little power in Washington to fight against wasteful spending as our nation spiraled into an economic crisis.

Many rightfully wondered where our Party would turn to regain the ground we lost.

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We live in an age where online communication thrives. The Internet has created countless new opportunities for commerce and communication. With that progress, unfortunately, comes exploitation by some, including criminals looking to do harm. For example, sexual predators are using social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook to identify and target victims – particularly young children. Just this month, MySpace announced that about 90,000 sex offenders had been identified and removed from their website. That is no doubt a positive step, but we know from experience that child predators and child pornographers will find other means to exploit children.

To strengthen penalties against these predators and enhance safety measures in place to protect our children, I joined forces with my colleague on the House side, Congressman Lamar Smith, to introduce the Internet Safety Act. While Internet crimes like the distribution of child pornography are not new challenges, we recognize more resources and tools need to be available to further combat crimes against children.

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More than two years after they were sentenced, former Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean still sit in federal prison for their actions in attempting to apprehend a drug runner who was smuggling 743 pounds of marijuana valued at $1.2 million from Mexico into the United States.

To protect them from prison gangs eager to attack law enforcement officers, the Bureau of Prisons keeps the two agents separate from the general prison population. Today, Ramos and Compean sit in solitary cells in Phoenix, and Elkton, Ohio, respectively, hundreds of miles from their homes and families in Texas.

Because of the excesses of the prosecution against them, they will continue to sit alone in those cells for another decade. That is unless President Bush commutes their unjust sentences. In his remaining days as President, I ask President Bush to show mercy and use his clemency power to give back Agents Ramos and Compean the next 10 years of their lives.

Along with U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, I have written two letters to the President urging commutation—and have spoken publicly many more times on this injustice.

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A great many free market conservatives are disillusioned with the Senate’s vote last night on the financial recovery plan. Their reaction is understandable. The choice last night was between doing something and doing nothing. Many of you may believe we made the wrong decision, but you should understand the factors we considered before the vote.

First of all, the mortgage mess is especially infuriating because some of us saw it coming. Two years ago, I joined with 19 of my colleagues demanding that we crack down on mortgage abuse, particularly by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. A bill doing exactly that, The Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act, was approved by the Senate Banking Committee. But it was killed on the Senate floor by Democrats who favored pushing out mortgages to people with dubious prospects for paying them back. They claimed we were concocting a problem that didn’t exist. We were not, and that makes the resulting mess all the more disgusting.

The decision we faced this week was not on whether to bail out Wall Street. If this was merely about assisting those who had gambled and lost in the financial markets, I would have opposed this bill without question. But the inward spiral of restricting credit now underway across our country threatens the jobs and savings of millions of ordinary Americans. I voted for the 65-year-old worker who suddenly has seen his retirement nest egg evaporating, and a lifetime of hard work thrown into jeopardy. I voted for the small business owner who is days away from failing to make his payroll because his line of credit has been frozen. I did it for the thousands of innocent employees who were soon to be facing layoffs due to excesses that were no fault of their own.

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I want to begin by congratulating the entire RedState team on a great looking new version of the site, and by wishing them a happy 4th birthday.

President Bush has taken an important step to lower gas prices. But now Congress needs to get out of the way and let the free market produce more energy.

The U.S. is the only country in the world that refuses to develop its own natural resources. We have placed 85 percent of our best energy lands off limits. Yet we are willing to enrich foreign governments—including some that foster anti-Americanism—instead of helping ourselves.

 At last, some Democrats are finally getting the message. The ice around their rigid anti-U.S. production position is starting to crack. (It is mid-July, after all.) At least ten Democratic Senators are now making statements amenable to offshore exploration.

But the Democratic leadership is delaying energy-related votes. They evidently fear these proposals could pass. At this rate, I suspect Republicans are going to do better in this fall’s elections than most pundits assume.

I’m backing several bills to move America closer to energy independence. They include the Gas Price Reduction Act, to facilitate offshore and western shale exploration. The U.S. is well on the way toward transitioning away from over-reliance on fossil fuels. I support aggressively pursuing every source of energy—including nuclear, clean coal, shale, wind and solar. We need it all. But as we move toward alternatives sources, our infrastructure relies on traditional energy.

The Democratic leadership thought it could skate through this crisis by relying on shopworn ideas that are proven losers—such as taxing American energy companies, suing OPEC and investigating so-called “price gouging.” These proposals would do nothing to lower gas prices. They would increase our dependence on foreign oil. Congress cannot repeal the law of supply and demand.

I’m currently hosting “Energy Independence Days” on my Web site, including new online interactive features, video messages and guest posts. We’re building momentum toward real energy independence solutions. The initiative has generated record traffic on our blog. It’s more proof—if any is needed—that Americans want action on gas prices from the Democrat-led Congress.

I appreciate Erick Erickson and other Redstate hosts for the opportunity to communicate with your online community. Please join me at www.johncornyn.com this week, and share your thoughts on the growing need for real energy solutions.