A Better Place

I have written on a number of occasions that our national leadership's inaction in the 35 years following the oil embargo and energy shortages of 1973 has been the greatest political failure in my lifetime. It also proves that government is incapable of solving our energy woes. In fact, the Congress, as exemplified by the Democrat's current doctrinaire stance against off-shore drilling as a stop gap (but important) measure, is an impediment to energy independence, not an enabler.

Our leaders have refused to lead, and as the saying goes, “Lead, follow, or get out of the way.” Maybe Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and their colleagues should simply get out of the way and let the adults take us toward energy independence.

And who, you might ask, are the adults? For starters, consider T. Boone Pickens , a no-nonsense businessman who is investing billions of dollars in wind power and the infrastructure required to deliver it. Or how about Shai Agassi, a former a top executive at German software giant SAP (SAP) who has created betterplace.com, a consortium of government (Israel and Denmark, but not the US as yet) and industry (e.g., Nissan and Renault) to develop and promote mass produced electric vehicles.

By coupling wind and solar electric power with mass produced electric vehicles, I am convinced within 10 years, we could break the oil producers stranglehold on the world economy. It would be satisfying to see Saudi Arabia and other Arab oil producers forced (by the market) to develop real economies as their oil profits plummeted. It would be sweet to see them forced to curtail their support of radical Islam and terrorist organizations and for the first time hundreds of years, grapple with their own broken culture.

That's the kind of change I can believe in.