The folks over at We can solve it, the people who run the "We" campaign (of which I am a member) have a new ad out. [You can view it here]. It's called Free US. It kind of bugs me, though. It basically asks the government to act as a methadone clinic and do it all for us. It fails to really put the onus on us. Sure, it says "we demand," but we're not petulant children. Come on. If we really want change we have to actually start taking the steps. Conserve. Use alternative forms of transportation (public transit, walking, biking, etc.). Put our money where our mouths are and buy the most efficient vehicles available. Etc., etc. We can't just whine for the government to take responsibility for us and make everything A-OK. It just isn't going to happen. It hasn't yet. We've known this day was coming and we did nothing. We went blissfully along our way expecting the government to take care of it for us. Well, that doesn't happen. Washington has proven that over and over again. Their idea is to drill, drill, drill--supposedly in addition to developing the alternative energy sources they claim aren't yet ready for prime time. But all they will do if we allow this path is drill, drill, drill until there isn't anything left. And then they'll think about developing those alternatives they've been paying lip service to.
A good example is the electric car. According to Washington and Detroit, the technology isn't there yet. The batteries don't work. So on and so forth. Never mind that we had them once and they worked great. That doesn't count. All the people who drove them and loved them? Delusional. Mistaken. Washington, under the Bush administration, has been funneling money into Detroit for "research and development." Only problem is, there were no strings attached. They didn't actually have to produce anything beyond vaporware (i.e., Chevy Dolt...er...I mean Volt). Never mind that a company like Phoenix Motor Cars is already producing electric cars that are currently available and rated at over one hundred miles on a charge (two and a half what Chevy is promising from the I'llbelieveitwhenIseeit Volt). They go from 0-60 in 10 seconds, too. These aren't little tin cans, either. They're nice cars.
So what's Detroit's problem? I don't suppose it's something that rhymes with effin OIL. Hell, they can't even get their heads around higher CAFE standards, how do we expect them to actually do something good for America? There was a time, back before America stopped holding itself up to a higher standard, when this wouldn't have happened. At one point Detroit would have freaked if they knew foreign auto makers were producing better cars with higher mileage. They would have put out a car that outdid all of them. But those days are gone. Now they just whine and ask the government to increase import tariffs on foreign automakers and they cling to big trucks and SUVs because they can still be competitive there.
Why doesn't someone go into Detroit and say, "Look, people, fuck the Big Three. You have plenty of empty factories. You have plenty of unemployed auto workers. You have the skills and the know-how. Here's what we can do for you. Let's build some cars." Couple that with a government that's more inclined to support real alternatives rather than the status quo of the Big Three and Big Oil and it could be one hell of a revolution.
Vote accordingly.
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