Forward-Thinking Energy Policy
When it comes to the clean energy initiatives and job creation, many Americans – especially our teabag-toting citizens – have been struck with an invisible, but life-threatening malaise. They are all suffering from a severe case of Nostalgia.
They are feeling nostalgic for a way of life, and a way of doing business, that we cannot, and should not try to, recapture. They are looking back over their shoulders as they move forward in time. (Try that sometime as you walk down a street. It's a lousy way to navigate.)
Fossil fuels power our 19th-century industrial base and impact personal and planetary health (from the wholesale poisoning of our air, water and soil to the health care costs and remedial actions required to address the side effects of industrial pollution and warming) as well as determining America's foreign policy and national security. Because our economy depends upon foreign oil, our instinct to survive drives our pursuit of it at all costs. This is only natural, but the costs include an aggressive foreign policy that destabilizes entire regions of the globe, requires trillions of dollars in military expenditures, escalates world conflict, and causes great loss of life and human suffering, all of which erodes national security. More to the point, an enlightened energy policy will free up a Secretary of State to shepherd a foreign policy guided by humanitarian considerations rather than pursuing our primary concern for "oil at all costs"; who would act as a broker for peace instead of an apologist for war; and who would recognize that our self-interest as a nation is inextricably tied to the welfare of people populating the entire globe.
Who should support sustainable energy initiatives? Those who favor peace over war and health over sickness; those who favor the creation of millions of new jobs and entirely new industries and exports; and those concerned about America's reputation in the world and its diminished ability to export the best of what a democracy has to offer: its principals, in action.
Americans must stop being so nostalgic and instead become a forward-thinking people who embrace 21st-century technology and who find inspiration and prosperity in redefining who we are as a nation. A change of this nature is essential for the health and prosperity of our country, and our planet. It would amount to nothing short of an American Renaissance.
Change is inevitable. We either create it or purchase it. Which will it be?
They are feeling nostalgic for a way of life, and a way of doing business, that we cannot, and should not try to, recapture. They are looking back over their shoulders as they move forward in time. (Try that sometime as you walk down a street. It's a lousy way to navigate.)
Fossil fuels power our 19th-century industrial base and impact personal and planetary health (from the wholesale poisoning of our air, water and soil to the health care costs and remedial actions required to address the side effects of industrial pollution and warming) as well as determining America's foreign policy and national security. Because our economy depends upon foreign oil, our instinct to survive drives our pursuit of it at all costs. This is only natural, but the costs include an aggressive foreign policy that destabilizes entire regions of the globe, requires trillions of dollars in military expenditures, escalates world conflict, and causes great loss of life and human suffering, all of which erodes national security. More to the point, an enlightened energy policy will free up a Secretary of State to shepherd a foreign policy guided by humanitarian considerations rather than pursuing our primary concern for "oil at all costs"; who would act as a broker for peace instead of an apologist for war; and who would recognize that our self-interest as a nation is inextricably tied to the welfare of people populating the entire globe.
Who should support sustainable energy initiatives? Those who favor peace over war and health over sickness; those who favor the creation of millions of new jobs and entirely new industries and exports; and those concerned about America's reputation in the world and its diminished ability to export the best of what a democracy has to offer: its principals, in action.
Americans must stop being so nostalgic and instead become a forward-thinking people who embrace 21st-century technology and who find inspiration and prosperity in redefining who we are as a nation. A change of this nature is essential for the health and prosperity of our country, and our planet. It would amount to nothing short of an American Renaissance.
Change is inevitable. We either create it or purchase it. Which will it be?
posted by Jeffrey Reel at
9:25 AM
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