Political Reflections

As you may or may not know, I'm fairly sure I'll be voting for Obama in the upcoming election. I have to say, I'm a sucker for what people are calling his "rhetoric". Take this article, for example, particularly the last paragraph. It's been brushed aside as the ability to read from a teleprompter, but I think it's more than that. I believe there is power in the spoken, and written, word. I have for some time admired another rhetorical politician - Winston Churchill. His words, I believe, single handedly willed the English people onward in their resistance and endurance of the Nazi onslaught. Actually, if anyone is interested in a good Christmas gift for me, I would love a collection of Winston Churhill's speeches and public addresses.

Over the last week or so I've had some reservations about voting for Obama. Call it buyer's remorse, or second guessing, or whatever. First of all, I got an email forward about how Jesus revealed to somebody that he was going to pull the shroud back on the evil practice of abortion. Accordingly, this individual sent out a video, which I chose not to watch, but which apparently included footage of aborted babies, etc. I'm fairly sensitive to graphic stuff like that, so the suggestion alone made me feel guilty, like a vote for Obama was a vote for killing babies. But then I remember something he said. I'm paraphrasing: "I'm not pro-abortion; no one is pro-abortion. We need to teach our kids abstinence; that's the best option. Second, we know not everyone will chose abstinence, so we need to teach safe sex. And finally, and most importantly, parents need to take a greater role in their children's lives, including teaching and helping their kids to understand their sexuality." Again, I'm paraphrasing. He said something along those lines during one of the debates. A well-reasoned position. I really like that on several occasions he has challenged parents to take more responsibility for the lives of their children, suggesting that many of the societal ills can be righted by proper parenting. I agree with that. I also remembered that I voted for Bush in 2004 based on abortion, and it doesn't seem to have had much impact on the issue. In fact, none at all that I can see.

Maybe Obama's just a windbag. But he's an inspirational windbag, and I have a lot of respect and admiration for people who can bring out the best in others. And I think that's a very important quality in a leader.

Political Rant (You've Been Forewarned...)

So I'm leaning Democratic this fall. Here's one reason: long-term energy. Democrat solution: newer, greener technologies. A long-term perspective. Republican solution: drill more.

Pardon the sarcasm, but let me see if I've got this straight: oil and oil-related products are increasing in price, largely because there's a limited supply and an unlimited demand. So our solution is to use up said limited resource at an even faster rate? Seems just a tad short-sighted, doesn't it? And in our mad dash to use up the last of our dwindling resources, why not trash the planet along the way?*

I know the Democrats have been a little light on the details, and some of the suggestions (properly inflated tires?) seem ridiculous in light of the magnitude of the problem - but aren't they at least headed in the right direction: reduced consumption, other sources of energy? Isn't that where we're going to have to end up anyway?

And another thing - I'm a fiscal conservative (smaller government, free markets... if that's not a fiscal conservative, that's what I meant) and I'm sick of one-way conservatives. It's pretty duplicitous to say we believe in free markets, but only if it means consumer prices go down. Oil is getting more scarce and it’s being used more so the free market is dictating that prices go up - simple supply (going down) and demand (going up). The genius of the free market system is that the increased price of oil and oil-related stuff will spur innovation and creativity to find better, cheaper energy sources. Keeping the price of oil down is short-sighted and will only hamper our transition to the next energy supply.

So I'm happy gas is more expensive; heck, bring on $10/gallon!

Actually, I've been thinking about this for awhile now (time warp - most of the above was written when I was in a more rant-ish type mood; now I'm a little more contemplative) and I think efforts to find a new source of energy are being hindered because we're focused on switching out oil with something new while still maintaining our consumption habits. Consider your personal range; by that I mean the distance you're willing to travel and still consider it 'convenient'. Another way to think of it, what length of trip do you consider significant enough that you block off a whole day for that one trip? What if that distance was drastically reduced? Maybe our culture should shift such that all our day-to-day activities are accessible by bike and foot, and any travel beyond that is done by airplane. What is the airline industry if not a worldwide mass transit system? We'd sure save a lot of oil not making those big long oil-strips we call highways. The infrastructure requirements of long distance air travel are so minimal in comparison to the automobile it's not even funny.

Well, all that aside, I do think that these are just the beginnings of a multi-generational shift in the way humanity views, uses, and consumes energy. The transition hasn't even really begun here; I don't have the data, but I'd hazard a guess that the average cost of fuel and the average commute length in America have charted a similar trajectory over the past 30 years.

Well, thanks for listening. I feel better already. What do you think?

*Editor's Note - that last little jab isn't entirely fair; the oil industry is quite clean in comparison to other natural resource industries. The mining industry, for instance, does hundreds of times more environmental damage than the oil industry. But that's beside the point.