Energy Sustainability: The American Approach

So, everybody is talking about gas prices, many times in crisis-couched language. 

[Sigh]

I want to get something straight before I move on: I am on your side, dear reader.  I would like to see the US be energy independent, I’d like it to be the most energy-efficient nation on earth.  I’d like to see us have the lowest per-capita production of greenhouse gases of any developed country (even though I’m sort-of a skeptic in the global warming area, I really just want the Europeans to find something new about the US to whine about).

I’m on your side OK?

Now, let me shock my conservative friends, and maybe get back a little goodwill with Southern Beale  …

When it came to energy policy, I’d say that Jimmy Carter had things about right.

Excuse me…

…OK, sorry, had to take a shower after that. :)  Seriously, I’d say policy-wise (on energy and energy alone) Carter understood the problem and was WAY ahead of his time.  In fact, I think he could have gone farther.

Have I become a liberal?  Should I sign up for my “Yes We Can” bumper sticker?  Hardly.  Carter was doomed to failure, as any approach by HRC or McCain would be (and maybe Obama - but he MAY be the man to pull this off, I don’t know).  You see, I think what Carter’s approach represented (along with this post by Mack) , is a profound misunderstanding of what makes Americans tick.

We Americans will conserve, for a good cause.  What we will not do, at least indefinitely, is hunker down.

We just don’t do it well.  Yes, there was rationing during WWII.  But my grandpa used to tell me stories.  People whined and complained the whole time.  People cheated when they could get away with it.  Had the war gone on another year, there probably would have been outright rebellion.

I think that what turned my generation off most about Carter was the feeling of hunkering down that flowed though all of his policies, not just his energy policies.  I remember the whole misery index thing, and the “malaise”. 

Remember when he said this?  “I think it’s inevitable that there will be a lower standard of living than what everybody had always anticipated… The only trend is downhill.”

You just don’t say that kind of stuff to Americans.  Only people who don’t understand Americans (individually and corporeally) say things like that. 

Now, I have recently learned that a majority of bloggers are pessimists, but I can tell you from a lifetime’s worth of experience and layman’s study that the majority of Americans are optimists.  Heck, I’d go so far to say that the majority of us are dreamers.

How do I know?  Think about it.  I don’t care what Michael Savage says, people do NOT emigrate to America to get on the dole.  Britain, Germany and France may have their share of that kind of immigrant, but that’s a fairy tale here.  Have you ever spoken to a first generation American?  They are dreamers, every darned last one of them.

I’ve said it before: America is an optimistic country because that’s where all the optimists went.  And it’s in our national DNA.  Yes, even in the poorest neighborhoods - I’ve spent my fair share of time in fellowship with those in poverty (albeit those who are overtly Christian and filed with a certain kind of “joy”) - I hear more optimism than I’ve ever heard in a crowd of college aged suburban kids.

That’s why I believe in American exceptionalism.  NOT that there is something morally superior about our country, or that God blesses us more than other nations.  I think America is exceptional because the majority of its people are optimists and dreamers.

Now, this national character causes us to make some profound blunders from time to time, but it also means that we, as a people, will bravely dare instead of…well, hunkering down.

We alway eventually rebel against walls and ceilings and fences.  Always.  I love that about America.

So, you want energy sustainability, energy independence, lowering of greenhouse gases?  Do not approach the problem as a problem, but a contest.  Americans will sacrifice ANYTHING in the name of winning a contest.

The space race is a good example.  Americans normally do not shine well to runaway government spending, and there was a little complaining at the time, but the idea of BEATING the Russians to the moon caused the people to overlook differences over the insane spending that was neccessary to get to the moon.  To this day, we still consider it a good investment, mainly because, well, we beat the Russians.

The Russians are still pretty good bad guys, but I think that we need new villians if we are going to come together and get energy independent.  And, the middle eastern countries are not powerful enough to be boogeymen (not to mention the fallout from declaring a cold war on Islamic countries).

No, if I were the president, I would name the Chinese the enemy, and I would couch a goal of energy independence as THE way we could kick Chinese ass.  One, China really is the biggest long-term threat to the superiority of the US on the world stage.  And two, the people that run the country are very, very bad guys.

Finally, if America were to become the most fuel efficient on earth, we would have an economic advantage over the Chinese (they have fuel costs, too) that would far outweigh their advantage in labor costs.  If we want to stay number one, we need an advantage.  Energy indepenence is it.

Have a goal?  The answer with Americans is to ALWAYS appeal to their optimism and competitive instincts.  Asking them to hunker down is just a good way to lose elections over and over again.

Civics Lesson

My daughter is mad as heck, and she’s not going to take it anymore.  We’ve talked about it before, but I guess with the presidential election going on, it has come to the forefront in her consciousness. 

Trillian blurted out in the car this afternoon, “I’m angry that I can’t run for president.”

I asked her, “Do you WANT to run for president?”

“No.  But if I wanted to, I can’t.  That’s wrong.”

She even pointed out a certain injustice I had never thought of before.  She reminded me that the children of illegal immigrants can become president, if they were born in the US.  Yet, even with citizen parents who went through all the right channels to get her to the United States, her 8 months in Korea at the beginning of her life disqualify her for our nation’s highest office.

Now, I didn’t want to get into a deep philosophical discussion with her about the sins of the father.  I admired her critical thinking skills (especially for a 10 year old), and suggested she write to her congressman and two senators.  She is working on it right now, and with her permission, I will post the full text of her letter here. 

She even has an idea: to keep the original intent of the constitution, she suggests that naturalized citizens should be allowed to run for president after being a citizen for 20 years.  Makes sense to me.

If she gets responses from any of the officials she writes, I will post those here as well.

A Tennessee Political Primer

If you are an ideologue, living in Tennessee can be maddening.  For all the talk about our fair state being a “red state”, such labels are superficial and do not tell any kind of meaningful story.  We do not, nor have we ever run super-hot or super-cold.  When it comes to political passions, Tennessee has always been lukewarm.  A cursory look at our history bears this out.

• Although not a state at the time, the citizens of what would become Tennessee were divided about the Revolutionary War. 
• Tennessee did secede from the union in 1861, but did so tepidly.  It was the last border state to do so.  It was also the first state to rejoin the union.  Because Tennessee had ratified the Fourteenth Amendment, it was the only one of the formerly seceded states that did not have a military governor during the Reconstruction period.
• For all of our bible-thumping conservative misogyny, Tennessee became thirty-sixth and final state necessary to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which provided women the right to vote.
• The TVA and segregation guaranteed that politics in Tennessee would be dominated by the Democratic party throughout most of the 20th century.  Yet, even that must be understood in the context of machine politics, specifically Memphis Boss Ed Crump.  The state has had a political division by geography since before the civil war.  As one heads west, Republican control cedes to Democratic control (with the exceptions of the donut counties around Memphis and Nashville).
• Starting in 1970, the governorship has ping-ponged back and forth between the two parties:  Ellington (1967-71) D,Dunn (1971-75) R,Blanton (1975-79) D,Alexander (1979-87) R,McWherter (1987-95) D, Sundquist (1995-2003) R ,
  Bredesen (2003- ) D .
• Our state legislature is split.  And, even when Republicans first took control of the state Senate in 2005, they still elected John Wilder (D) speaker.
• Although it could be argued that Tennessee is very conservative religiously, such a statement is relative.  Compared to, say, Connecticut?  Certainly.  Compared to Alabama?  I don’t think so.  You can point to Stokes Scopes (that’ll teach me to write a post before two cups of coffee…) all you want, and you’d be showing your ignorance.  The Scopes monkey trial was a publicity stunt - a way to spur economic development.  Not to say we don’t have our share of fundamentalists.  But, even our fundamentalists are lukewarm.

There are many examples I’m leaving out, but, you get the picture.  Check out this page for a really cool timeline of TN political history, starting in the 2nd half of the 20th century.

To understand politics in TN, you need to look at power.  The most powerful Republicans are moderates, the most powerful Democrats are moderates.  Tom Tancredo and Cynthia McKinney would not cut it here.  We have our occasional Campfield and Cohen, but you will never see a mercurial type like that ascend to the top of their party here.  They are distractions. 

Tennessee is, no matter what the two parties try to claim, a moderate state.  I like it that way.

Lots Of Random Thoughts

Here are some random thoughts for your Thursday.

Things around my house are slowly getting around to normal.  For those of you who know me personally, sorry I went off the deep end lately.  I need to remember the number one rule of swimming: if you are drowning, stop flailing.

In my house, Jesus Christ is savior.  He does however, have a new assistant: Effexor.  Hopefully, my insurance will pay for it (right now, they are balking).

Lintilla is officially back to her job today.  This is her first day doing actual patient care, after 3 months of being away from it.  She promised me she’d take it easy.

Jesus’ other assistant is snow.  My kids were so excited to be out of school yesterday, they got along the entire day.

Lost in my own drama is the incredible story of my friend Mark Mills.  If you haven’t yet, go to Ginger’s site and read it.  When it comes to prayer, God may not be an ATM, maybe we can’t name it and claim it, but sometimes, I think, He uses prayer (and answers them) to remind us of His awesome power, if we will only bend our knees to Him.

You may not like Michael Medved, but this post is very wise.

Note to Tennessee liberals: YOU are supposed to be the “intelligent” ones.  Why do you allow your “lessors” to play you like a cheap violinevery presidential election cycle?  Lots and lots of people who didn’t know Obama’s middle name do now, because of your very vocal outrage.  It doesn’t matter if you are “right”, and that this is a dirty trick.  You guys better get out in front of the “Obama is in league with or will be soft on Islamists” meme, or you will lose.  I don’t care how outraged you are.

Update - Read this article  for context.

My ambition overcame my phobia last week.  I actually picked up the phone, dialed a number, and after a few days of phone tag, talked with a producer at NPR about an Ugly Betty story they are doing.  (No, they aren’t featuring ME, although they should - my task is to find fans in the LA area for them to interview).  It was during this conversation that I realised I have an “NPR” voice.  I don’t use it very often, but it’s funny how I have many different “voices” I can pull out like tools from a toolbox.

Can’t the Preds play defense anymore?

Finally…

I find it weird that our sexual attractions age with us.  Yesterday, while watching some commercial for this or that wonder-drug, one of the smiling faces was a partially white haired, fifty-something woman.  And it shocked me when the thought popped into my head:  “She’s pretty hot!”  Later, the news did a story on the MTSU poll, and it showed the students conducting the poll. 

Now, in my world, “college girls” and “girls who are pleasing to look at” were synonymous.  But yesterday, I looked at the young ladies and saw little girls.  To be attracted to them would make me feel like a dirty old man.  What the heck is happening to my brain?

That’s all I’ve got right now.

I’m the One

As you probably know, in TN the ballot on the Dem side was straightforward (you vote for the candidate), whereas on the Republican side, you vote for the delegates, so there were pages and pages to go through.

Judging from the amount of time people were taking to vote at West Meade school, every single person there was voting Republican.  This isn’t a surprise, I live in a pretty heavily Republican district.

When you see the returns tomorrow, broken down by district, you’ll probably see one single vote for Obama at West Meade Elementary.  You should have seen the looks I got when I said I wanted to vote in the Dem primary.

And yes, I am still a conservative.  If you must, think of it as me voting against Hillary Clinton.

I Get Off Work At 3

I have a few hours left.  I STILL haven’t decided for whom I will vote.

All I know is that it will not be John McCain, and it will not be Hillary Clinton.  I agree with McCain on immigration (based on past proposals), but I don’t think he’s the man to guide the nation through what may be tough economic times. 

If I vote for Huckabee, it will be a cynical “stop McCain” vote.  I don’t like voting that way, but I’m wondering if I have any choice.  Otherwise, I could be convinced.

I don’t agree with Ron Paul about foreign policy or immigration.  Could his strength on other issues be an overriding factor?

I don’t agree with Obama very much politically, but I LOVE his optimistic style and fresh approach.  I think that sort of thing has been missing from politics since Reagan.  I am so sick of conservatives who aren’t really conservative, and liberals who aren’t really liberals.

Triangulation sucks.

I’d like to see an America full of dreamers again.  It’s what makes us “better” than the older countries of the world.  America has always been an optimistic country because that’s where all the optimists went. 

Do McCain or Clinton inspire anyone?  I mean, outside of by osmosis?  Yeah, he’s a war hero, she’s a woman.  But, do they say things that make people want to do Big Things?  Or do they tell us, instead, they’ll protect us from boogieman - McCain the terrorists, Clinton, the Republicans.  You know what?  I’m tired of hiding under the bed.

I also happen to believe that we conservatives won’t be energized again till we have a whole new set of government programs to fight against.  The old ones are our grandparent’s battles, and they were won by the big-government types.  So, maybe we need an effective liberal - a modern-day Roosevelt or Johnson - to wake us from our doldrums.

Would Romney be a real conservative?  Who knows?  He MIGHT be the man for the job if there is a recession.

I am thinking all of this through.  Reading over what I’ve written, it would appear I’m leaning toward Obama.  I’ll be doggoned.

But, I still haven’t decided.  You have a few hours.  Shoot.

Emily’s Worried About Her Water Breaking

Have I told you how much I like my representative in the Metro council, Emily Evans?  I absolutely love the fact that she blogs, and what’s more, she tells you what she REALLY thinks:

We have placed more and more burden on our Public Works budget and given it less and less of our tax dollars. Water Services has not had a rate increase since 1996 which was ok for a while. Now, if we don’t start putting capital in that system we may find ourselves in the same boat as Atlanta, GA and Franklin, TN. It was not the drought that forced Atlanta and Franklin and many other cities in the Southeast into water rationing it was their craven lack of planning and investment.

…

So, here are a few rules to live by: 1. Stuff that makes our city work; water and sewer lines, roads, bridges and sidewalks costs money; 2. That stuff rarely gets cheaper with time; 3. When it breaks it costs a whole lot more to fix than just keeping it running right in the first place; 4. It isn’t a problem that will ever go away.

So I’d like a new sewer line with my name on it, please.

She points out that Water Services hasn’t had an increase since 1996 .  Keep in mind, Evans represents one of the most the most affluent districts in Davidson County,  yet she pretty much lays out a pretty strong case for a water rate increase.

Even though I’m a borderline Republican, and I’m never too crazy about tax or rate increases, you have to admire Evans’ willingness to lay it all out there on the internutty for all to see.  And, like I said, she makes a pretty good case.

Harding Academy got so ticked off at her for not being in their pocket voting the way they wanted her to, they put up their own candidate against her in the last election.  She kicked his butt.

If you haven’t yet added her blog to your blogrolls, please do.

Oh, and Emily - If you’d make a habit of shooting spit-wads at Eric Crafton during council meetings, I’d vote for you for mayor.

Be Careful What You Wish For

Warning: political content.

I read with a little amusement Sharon Cobb’s recap of last night’s civil Republican debate.  On the whole, she’s got a pretty good eye for these things, and understands Republican politics better than many Republicans.  This part was the most interesting to me:

In previous debates, Romney would easily stumble when exchanges got heated. But last night everyone was very civil, so Romney didn’t get rattled. (Hillary or Barack would eat him for lunch in a debate)

I’m not saying this isn’t true.  But it brings up an interesting problem the Democrats are going to have in the general election, should Clinton win the nomination. 

(As an aside, JP thinks my advice to Democrats is a Trojan Horse.  This is a legitimate concern, I guess, so it’s up to you if you want to listen). 

I really think Hillary’s supporters do not fully appreciate her image problem amongst people who aren’t…well…her supporters.  If Romney and Clinton were to meet in a debate, and if he were to remain civil, and if Hillary “ate him for lunch”, her suporters would indeed see a tough woman putting a slick politician man in his place.  But the rest of the country (especially men, but also some women) would see the last ten seconds of this advertisement:

Hey, would someone please clean up the exploding head debris? 

Sure, it’s not right.  But, c’mon.  You know you’ve seen the Hillary nutcrackers, and all the other crude reminders.  Mrs Clinton has an image problem.  She’s had it since 1992.  It’s a very serious one, and I think her supporters have a blind spot to it, because they abhor the REASONS for the image problem.  But are you going to curse the universe for making men (and some women) so ignorant, or are you going to win the presidency?

She can’t overcome the image problem.  There will be no Lazio moment - outside of New York, many people would think he wussed out for not taking a swing at her.

If she wins the nomination, she cannot “out-tough” the Republican, ESPECIALLY if it’s Romney.  She’s going to have to out-charm him.  To be honest, I have no idea how Clinton would pull that off.

It’s not fair, but Obama doesn’t have this problem, and could attack, and use his charm to overcome the negative vibes from it.  Mrs Clinton has no such charm.   Can’t you see that?

Obama is the Dems’ best chance.

Progressive, My Butt

From The Tennessean:

Belle Meade?  Forrest Hills? West Meade?  Hillwood? Hillsboro?

Karl Dean, man of the people  Davidson County money.  WHY does everyone call him the progressive candidate?  I’ve seen no Kucinich-like wacky proposals at his web site, so I have no reason to believe he’s that much more liberal than Clement, posturing aside.

See all that yellow (or orange, or whatever that lighter color is)?  Those are my neighbors.  They are generally older, pretty affluent, and not exactly hipsters.  The only reason I think his base of support is in SW Davidson county is because he is the Establishment candidate, whether the mayor wants to come out and say it or not.

It’s all quite perplexing.

Too Rich

Mack has an interesting post about an incident where somebody left their minivan running for over 60 minutes at WalMart.  Lots has been said about this at his place and at MCB. But everybody (including Mack, interestingly) is ignoring the subtext of the post, and the conclusions drawn. He links to an article that lambasts “suburban sprawl”, suburbia, and suburbanites.  Mack seems to agree with the original article.

The irony is so rich you could almost cut it with a knife.

I am a suburbanite. The suburban life is all I’ve ever known.

I have been reading about this subject for years.  Now, the article Mack linked to was high-brow, and lacked some of the usual invective we see aimed toward suburbia and suburbanites.  Yet the subtext is there for all to see:

Suburbanites are to the far left what illegal immigrants are to the far right. 

• Instead of streaming across the border, we are spreading into the countryside.
• We are ruining the American (and world’s) way of life.
• Instead of the right complaining about 12 to a house, the left complains about 1 to a car.
• Both groups are described like spreading vermin.
• We (suburbanites) must turn aside from our own culture, and adopt the “right” culture to save America.
• The left looks down upon our stores, our restaurants, our entertainment, our purchases, our voting patterns. We need to be more like them, and then maybe we’ll be accepted.
• The left sees this country as their birthright, and “we” are taking it away, and must be stopped.
• We are generally unclean (driving SUVs) and make a mess of things (global warming).
• Instead of a wall, “smart planning”, restrictionist coding, etc are what’s advocated to keep “us” from advancing.

I was raised in suburbia.  It’s all I’ve ever known.  The commute, the multiplex, the mall, WalMart are all part of my “culture”.  Many of the left consider themselves multiculturalists; we must accept others as they are, the argument goes, and not make anyone feel bad because they are different.  Demands of assimilation are totally out of  bounds.

I wish they’d apply their own standard to suburbanites.  After all, our strength is our diversity.

Edited to Add: In no way do I wish to convey that Mack, personally, has made these arguments.  This post is a refutation of many arguments I have heard through the years.  Mack’s post just got me going.  Except for being like, a liberal, Mack is an all-around cool dude.  Sorry I gave the wrong impression