UPDATED: JAN 6, 2007
THE GOOD DEMOCRATS CAN DO: A SUNNY OUTLOOK
Recently someone asked me why I continued to attack Bush instead of addressing what the Democrats might do to make this a better country in which to live. Such a proposition caused gave me pause. Why beat the dead horse that Bush is bad when no remedy from either party is in sight? Indeed. So I decided to turn off the dismal lamp long enough to consider how the Democrats could make a silk purse out of the sow’s ear Bush has created. Illegal immigration, unchecked borders, our impending financial ruin and all, seem all too real, but wait. It does not bode well for the human spirit to see things darkly all the time. We must dwell in the light, too. And really, what would I accomplish if I continued to berate the horrors Bush created and the train-headed-over-the-cliff policies he has visited upon us Americans and the rest of the world (see how easy it is for me to diverge into talking about Bush’s bad points and failures)? Point is, everybody knows about Bush’s deviant behavior as president from when he was a privileged brat who got out of the draft during wartime and went AWOL, and yet no elected representatives of the people cried out for his impeachment or atonement. So forget it. Let’s get on with accentuating the positive.
How could the Democrats do better? What would fit their political patterns and nature? In lieu of the anemic, downright cowardice the Democrats have shown us in spite of the fact that they were handed a majority in both houses in 2004, I still am a glutton for still having hope. The elephant in the room tells us that wars benefit crony oil corporations and military contractors like Halliburton and Blackwater and NOT the people, and that’s a given. Their broken houses and countries where they live, and the cemeteries of dead friends, mothers, sons, and fathers who perished at the hands of Blackwater contractors out for an afternoon of fun and sick target practice, still cry out for justice. Over 70 innocent Iraqis died for their sport and fun, yet will Bush condemn it or punish the killers? Not likely. Forgive me, but once I get started, I admit that it is difficult to be positive and to say hopeful things about our future when so much is dark. None of us seem to want to say or do anything about the atrocities that continue to happen every day, against our will, but in our name, the United States of America. Sound like a broken record? I agree. That’s what happens when things get broken.
We Democrats have always been friends of the environment. And what could be more environmentally green than solar power? Heretofore there have always been problems with alternate forms of energy. Hydrogen is too expensive to produce, electric cars have limited range before having to recharge batteries, you know the “yes-buts” that accompany new technology and its advocates. Solar power has never seriously gathered steam (or created any) since the idea first presented itself as a novelty you can purchase from the Home Depot to solar-power your path to the garage. More of a curiosity than a source of light, it would seem. When oil almost hit $100 a barrel, I began to devour articles on solar power. First, I realized that I had to forget about preconceived notions that solar power was a toy, a novelty.
Recent articles on solar power in Newsweek, November 19, 2007, and Scientific American, January, 2008 provided stunning hope for solar power in a polluted world without a plan. If ever a solution to the world’s energy and pollution problems existed, it seems to be in solar power. The subject is fascinating. New things are afoot in solar power technology. Scientists are serious. This solar energy of the 21st century would utilize vast acreage of mirrors that follow the sun and heat liquid in long pipes attached to the mirrors to create steam. Steam drives turbines, and (presto) electricity, simple as that! The electric energy is then stored in batteries. With ongoing research and continued improvements in storage batteries, the vast amounts of energy could be stored and released as needed upon demand. This stored energy could be used to charge plug-in electric cars with improved ranges of over 250 miles and more. Capturing the sun’s heat and storing it as compressed air is another means of known viable technology to harness the energy from the sun. Stored in underground chambers, this compressed air could be summoned at will to drive a turbine which in turn turns a generator which then creates electricity which is held on demand to charge our plug-in hybrid cars (PHEVS) which can give us the equivalent of over 100 miles per gallon when compared to gas! This is a reality waiting to happen. The new technology could fuel our electricity needs indefinitely as the sun also rises each day as a new hope, a new source of power that was in our backyard all along.
Could America begin to heal ourselves and heal our 9 Trillion dollar debt by selling new green technology to the world? It all sounds crazy, but we can do it. Why not dream for a minute and visualize a planet that begins to heal itself as the United States once again leads the rest of the world down roads that will save us all? Now take a deep breath. I think we can pay off America's 9 Trillion dollar debt and save the planet and this great country if we commit to a new philosophy of looking ahead, caring about our future, our children and grandchildren. And paying ourselves for a change instead of borrowing on credit cards to get the things we want today by borrowing against the future of all generations to come!
Alternative forms of energy are imminent and inevitable. If the Democrats take the bull by the horns, millions of new jobs would be created here at home. You heard me right. And these will be good-paying jobs to make products in high demand that the rest of the world will want to buy from us (including electricity), and our trade deficit with China and every other nation in the world will vanish. We will begin to enjoy trade surpluses from here on. The whole solution to all our failings, economically as a nation of credit card addicts (both the US government and John and Jane Doe), is possible through solar power. The Democrats are so inclined and can do America and the world a real service. And if the Republicans continue to pander to their base, the deep pockets who prefer to pollute the water and air because it means a better bottom line, it will not last that long. A world in terrible need demands change, now, and the GOP better get on the train before it leaves the station.
There is much more to improve upon in solar technology, but consider the rewards. Say our electric company is charging us 16 cents per kilowatt hour now to power our homes. With solar-generated electricity, eventually we are talking a fraction of that, say 9 cents/KWH. Instead of a $250 a month light bill, how about one that costs $135 in the dead of summer? Oh, and there's more. No more oil dependency. No more oil to protect and defend as we borrow from the Chinese to pay Blackwater and Halliburton mercenary cronies to help us fight idiot wars of preemption and occupation. No more sucking up to Middle East foreign governments who deal in human trafficking just because they have oil and we must stay on their good side. Bye-bye global warming created by smokestack industries and refineries. Sell electric power to the world? Why not? Piece of cake. Bye-bye coal-fired electric plants that put mercury into every living fish and creature that inhabits every square inch of water in America. You want to eat a pound of crappie you caught at Toledo Bend on Thanksgiving? Go ahead. Forget about the mercury advisories in salmon, too, that contain the heart healthy Omega 3s. It's all solar generated electricity, now, and there ain't any pollution. None. We don't need to worry about it anymore. Or the price of oil as it plunges toward $20 per barrel. Great images, eh? The Democrats can do it. They can champion solar power that can feasibly supply our energy needs for the whole rest of the 21st century. No shortages. The sun’s too big to ever get used up.
On New Year's Day in Humble, Texas, it was cold. When I opened the door on the north side of my house and stepped out into the cold shadows, I shivered. But when I rounded the corner and headed south, the sun hit me full in the face, and its warmth surrounded me. It bathed the forest in light; its sudden light everywhere, was breathtaking. The sun was my companion to help me enjoy a winter day; it was a bonus that had been there all along, and its rays were powerful yet playfully penetrating to the skin. It was solar power all right. Perhaps we all should think about it next time next time we fill up, especially if the sun’s warming rays touch us with a wakeup call that we could possibly be paying as little equivalent at the pump as 50 cents per gallon. Perhaps such an experience will cause it to dawn on us that not only is our dependency on oil draining our personal savings, but it has us fighting endless wars and borrowing and spending America's future away.
We invented solar power. We have the top scientists in the field, and last but not least, American investors and corporations have the money to finance research and development of new solar power technologies. The half Trillion dollars we spent on the Iraq War could have paid for such a plan. Those monies would likely have provided us with millions of new jobs and cheap renewable energy perhaps for the next thousand years. That’s where the Democrats will lead on such a new adventure as making solar power our own. Democrats have traditionally voted for environment issues, green issues. Republicans have favored smokestack industries due to the immediate greed of corporations to show a better bottom line each quarter. Big deal. Perhaps the Democrats could persuade the GOP to stop taking contributions from industries that pollute and get with the future. There will be enough billions in all the aspects of developing meaningful solar energy to go around for everybody. Maybe the Democrats could convince General Electric to put its toe in the water. To help us get going and to ensure that planet earth will have something to leave our posterity. Something good.
While in the Navy I toured a solar furnace facility in Alamogordo, New Mexico. Utilizing a concave arrangement of mirrors perhaps 10 feet in diameter, the device captured the sun’s rays, focused them onto a 12 inch thick wall of lead and instantly melted an 8 inch hole in the center. I remembered thinking then that this device was more than a toy and that collecting the sun’s energy and focusing a beam of it in that manner could surely be a source of creating steam and driving turbines to power cities. Looks like it could happen and we could lose our addiction to oil. That was in 1973. We did not have to discard oil and coal then. We do now. We had the technology then. And we can implement it now. It’s a matter of simple physics. Of doing the things we know how to do and can. And now more than ever, it is a matter of dire necessity. And the Democrats can and will champion solar power, maybe our last hope.
It will be a gradual process, but WE MUST BEGIN. We must keep the technology and the plants here and resist selling out. We have given away the store, our technology, and our country and look at what happened. We cannot afford to repeat those mistakes. The Democrats will lead us out of the wilderness. The Republicans cannot do it without the Democrats showing them the way; that all is not made of gold and immediate gratification and campaign contributions and other paid-for favors. Meanwhile, the cheap labor of China can go suck swamp water in the dark, polluted, eddies of the Yangtze River.
Last Update: 02/03/2008