With the ill effects of high fuel prices still hammering the American economy, many Republicans across the country have endorsed an “All of the Above” Strategy for reducing the price of energy and ending our dependence on foreign oil. Last week, while House Republicans wanted to stay in session and work on an energy plan, the Democrats decided to take a five week vacation.

Republicans stood their ground on the floor of the U.S. House and kept talking about the need for real energy solutions even after the Democrats went home, and turned off the lights & microphones. The uprising broke up on Friday afternoon with the Democratic Leadership breathing a sigh of relief that it was over. 

But the House Republicans weren’t done - they came back yesterday to continue to effort and are still on the floor of the U.S. House talking today.  Per the Speaker’s Office, the C-SPAN cameras remain off and House rules prevent audio or video from escaping the House chamber.

Like the news of the uprising on Friday, the actions of the House Republicans continue to be followed by Republican activists online via Twitter and #dontgo.  The #dontgo movement is, for many, a turning point in Republican politics.  Web guru Patrick Ruffini summarized it this way:

#dontgo is officially a movement. MoveOn is mobilizing against the House Republicans and the rightosphere this afternoon. I don’t think they’ve ever done this in response to a grassroots conservative protest. Something has changed. The Next Right

The petition being pressed by @EricCantor asking Speaker Pelosi to come back to Washington and call the House back into session has already generated 10,000 signatures in the last 24 hours and the #dontgomovement website just went live - the whole effort is gaining speed and the Republican Members of the U.S. House are in the lead.

The whole debate is particularly relevant in high-cost Connecticut.  We pay among the highest prices for gas per gallon in the nation, it is more expensive to use Connecticut electricity than almost anywhere else in the continental United States, and people are sick of it. 

State Senator David Cappiello, who is challenging one-term Congressman Chris Murphy in the Fifth Congressional District, previously encapsulated much of what the ‘All of the Above’ strategy in his ‘Real Energy Solutions NOW’ proposal that he introduced several weeks ago.  We need offshore drilling, nuclear, and a whole host of alternative energy sources to come online and reduce the burden on Connecticut’s economy.

It is encouraging to see fellow Republicans take up this charge and push it in the U.S. Congress and throughout the blogosphere.  Click here to sign the petition.