Whenever there are difficult times, it is easy to get caught up in the uproar of lost jobs, pay cuts, and increasing cost of living and just focus on mere survival. Survival is a natural instinct but one that is holding us back during this massive economic down turn. It has resulted in a paralysis of leadership left trying to navigate us through a horrendous storm of events while at the same time keeping us from seeing the future.
From my perspective, America’s future is more of the same cycle of boom and bust with longer periods of bust than boom until we make some real changes. There is a saying, “If you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you have always gotten.” This is true when it comes to our economy and will remain true until we eliminate our dependency on oil.
We missed our chance to reinvent ourselves, and in the process, the world, in the 70’s when OPEC held a gun to our head and drove up the cost of oil. Rather than freeing ourselves from future threats, we waited them out and ever since have gone through a continuous cycle of economic ups and downs complicated by our dependence on much needed energy from other nations.
We could have, and should have, moved toward more alternative energy sources for our cities and transportation needs but failed to. Rather than developing wind and solar energy projects on a massive scale, high speed rail systems, or greener cities, our leaders decided to maintain our dependence on OPEC and large American oil corporations and the result has been disastrous.
Republicans and democrats have been too caught up in pointless ideological arguments over issues like abortion, gay marriage, or taxes to sit down together and wean ourselves from our dependence on greedy people. We have continued to elect, and re elect, leaders who are tied financially to oil corporations rather than elect leaders with a vision and desire to move our nation to the forefront of self sufficiency.
Forty years has been enough time to turn our country into a place where every home and building produces their own energy through solar or wind power. It has been enough time to manufacture cars that no longer require the use of gasoline to transport us from our homes to work. High speed rail systems could be in place to replace the cars or planes we use for moderate commutes. It is enough time to have turned our country from an energy dependent nation to an energy supplier and provide millions of Americans with an array of jobs that today, we can only dream about. Instead, we continue to follow the path we have always followed and seem surprised when it leads us to the same destination.
Now is the time to change all of this. America, all of us, voters and elected officials, has to begin to do what is necessary to maintain our greatness and lead us toward a future of opportunity; one where our young have a sense of hope that their hard work in the classrooms will result in new jobs in new industries that pave the way for not only their own success, but the future of the world. If we fail now, we will struggle to cope as we watch other emerging nations pass us by and relegate us to has been status. Is that the future we want?
From my perspective, America’s future is more of the same cycle of boom and bust with longer periods of bust than boom until we make some real changes. There is a saying, “If you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you have always gotten.” This is true when it comes to our economy and will remain true until we eliminate our dependency on oil.
We missed our chance to reinvent ourselves, and in the process, the world, in the 70’s when OPEC held a gun to our head and drove up the cost of oil. Rather than freeing ourselves from future threats, we waited them out and ever since have gone through a continuous cycle of economic ups and downs complicated by our dependence on much needed energy from other nations.
We could have, and should have, moved toward more alternative energy sources for our cities and transportation needs but failed to. Rather than developing wind and solar energy projects on a massive scale, high speed rail systems, or greener cities, our leaders decided to maintain our dependence on OPEC and large American oil corporations and the result has been disastrous.
Republicans and democrats have been too caught up in pointless ideological arguments over issues like abortion, gay marriage, or taxes to sit down together and wean ourselves from our dependence on greedy people. We have continued to elect, and re elect, leaders who are tied financially to oil corporations rather than elect leaders with a vision and desire to move our nation to the forefront of self sufficiency.
Forty years has been enough time to turn our country into a place where every home and building produces their own energy through solar or wind power. It has been enough time to manufacture cars that no longer require the use of gasoline to transport us from our homes to work. High speed rail systems could be in place to replace the cars or planes we use for moderate commutes. It is enough time to have turned our country from an energy dependent nation to an energy supplier and provide millions of Americans with an array of jobs that today, we can only dream about. Instead, we continue to follow the path we have always followed and seem surprised when it leads us to the same destination.
Now is the time to change all of this. America, all of us, voters and elected officials, has to begin to do what is necessary to maintain our greatness and lead us toward a future of opportunity; one where our young have a sense of hope that their hard work in the classrooms will result in new jobs in new industries that pave the way for not only their own success, but the future of the world. If we fail now, we will struggle to cope as we watch other emerging nations pass us by and relegate us to has been status. Is that the future we want?
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