On the Contrary

The Saudis are thinking big.  They are planning six major industrial centers to be constructed over the next 15 years each costing over $100 billion which will provide jobs to their growing population, half of which is under 21 (and probably attending madrasas but that is a story for another day) (Washington Post).   The point is that they are looking beyond their present oil economy to the future and preparing for it.  They are investing in their future when oil will no longer be king.  Meanwhile here in  Thinking-Smallville, we are calling for more drilling.  Let’s see if you have the mental image yet:  Those guys in robes who cover their wives in tents have a vision for the future and are investing in it, while we of the “Christian Nation” can’t seem to plan past our current oil price shock.  The majority of Americans still think the answer to today’s problems are yesterday’s solutions, more drilling.   Even T. Boone Pickens knows better than this.

Meanwhile in Congress Nancy Pelosi is holding strong against more offshore drilling even though her colleagues are feeling the pressure of the rabble (New York Times).   What are they, lemmings?  If the people want something stupid they should just roll over and give it to them?  Why can’t we think big?  Our problems are not going to be solved by yesterday’s solutions.  In fact yesterday’s solutions are the root of our problems.  We have come to believe that government has no role but to accommodate business and the standard refrain is if you want something done bad, have government do it.  It has become the conventional wisdom that has paralyzed us from thinking big.

I live on a fairly large piece of property and my driveway is a quarter mile long.  I can’t really afford to seal coat it this year, but I can’t afford not to.  I have to think about the long term costs and impact if I don’t.  Do you get the analogy?  George Moron Bush and his minions have bankrupted the government with their tax cut free ride and frivolous war, but even so we can’t afford not to invest in our future.  It is time to start thinking big and digging deep.  If you look just at the energy problem, T. Boone wants a partnership between government and industry to build a wind and solar corridor in the Midwest.  It is a start.

Did you ever ask yourself why Mexico has a highspeed rail and we don’t?  Well the answer is simple and it is spelled Republicans.  They won’t let the government invest in anything unless our boys in private sector can get rich also.  It’s small thinking and it is why we do not have a real alternative to airlines.  If you have been to Europe or Japan, or most any other industrialized country in the world, they have a very good train system.  They are all subsidized by their governments because their governments feel that these transportation systems are essential to the countries economic well being.  No duh, but we can’t do it here because we can’t afford it.  We can’t afford not to do it if we want a future.

It is time to start thinking big.  Our politicians are not going to do it.  So we must demand that they do.  We need an energy plan, not a study, but a plan for our future.  It will include a mix of nuclear, wind, solar, hydrogen, with the hybrid car only the transition.  Notice I didn’t say ethanol.  This one needs to be looked at in terms of its net carbon impact, high requirement for water in its production, and its impact on food production.  T. Boone has given us a path forward from an oilman and it is a great start.  But until we have a plan, an implementable plan, not just perks for different industries (small thinking), we will go nowhere.

We need a transportation plan that provides us with energy efficient alternatives.  It should be a national goal to create a high-speed rail system throughout the United States with viable feeder lines that support smaller communities.  We need to quit investing in bigger and better highways through the center of our cities because most us are never going to be able to afford the fuel anymore and they destroy the tranquility and beauty of our cities.  We need to be investing in Metro’s like the one in Paris with connections to the rest of France through high speed rail.    It will be tough because vested interests that could lose in this deal will come out of the woodwork.  But this is about our future.

So where are the big ideas?  Well they are being stifled in a Republican created haze of limiting government and thinking small, and Democratic coward ness in not stepping into the “Breech” (Henry V).  If we are going to rise from the ashes of our neglect it will be through our government’s investment in our future.  It means that instead of investing more money in military expenditures than all countries combined, we will take some of that money and invest in our real security, our economy.  It means that some of us will have to pay higher taxes.  It means that we won’t spend our fortunes nation building elsewhere until we have nation building at home.  And when we spend our money on investing in our future, we create jobs and capital.  We all gain with these kinds of investments.  FDR figured this out.  Why oh why can’t American’s today figure this out?