Move away from the hydrocarbons. (Image from William Robert Johnston.)
Maybe you have to use the small font to get that on a postage stamp. But it sure fits good on a postcard, big enough so that King George Bush can read it without his spectacles.
And it works in so many areas:
- Don't like Putin, or Chavez, the Saudis, or the mess in Iraq? Move away from the hydrocarbons.
- Worried about American competitiveness? Move away from the hydrocarbons, building American technology and production in the process.
- Worried about New Orleans, Florida, New York, the polar bears? Move away from the hydrocarbons.
- Worried about education? Science and engineering are what we need to do this. Move away from the hydrocarbons.
- Worried about health? Non-hydrocarbon fuels will do more to improve our health than anything. Move away from the hydrocarbons.
This is where our money needs to go. This is where our subsidies need
to go. Not to corn-based ethanol -- that doesn't solve the problem. To
universities, to guaranteeing a market for energy created without
hydrocarbons. Pay for it by getting rid of all our current subsidies
for hydrocarbons and you have enough left over to give New Orleans Cat
5 levees and probably eliminate the estate tax.
How can the problem be solved? It's time to harness the Sun, the wind, the water, and heat deep inside the Earth. Heat water with it, use that water to spin turbines, use that electricity to make hydrogen. Use parts of the existing natural gas system to transport that hydrogen gas to where it's needed. Or just cut out the gas, and move that electricity directly to market. Put your money into carbon nanotube research, into room-temperature superconductors, and you can double your yield by changing-out copper and steel power cables.
What's amazing is how quickly the economic benefits from this can flow. Look how quickly oil prices fell from $70/barrel to $50/barrel, just from our driving a little less and switching from things like Previas to Scions. How'd you like to cut that to $30/barrel? Or $10/barrel? Or $1/barrel?
Look what that does to our foreign policy. Putin can no longer kill his enemies, because he can't buy off his people with hydrocarbon prosperity. He'll be killed by them. Now we have something to export to China, something they'll want to buy, and will pay top dollar for. Now Hugo Chavez has to actually create an economy, and Nigeria has to create a society.
Yeah, this is an Al Gore platform, and he'd be the best President to implement it, but what's your problem with that? He's the best chance Democrats have anyway.
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