Don't soil Carter's good name. Obama has not lead on any important issues.
Carter is the only US President who had the balls to stand up against big oil. He is the only US President who didn't lie to Americans - to the contrary, he told them they had to make sacrifices as patriots so that future Americans would not be held hostage to expensive oil. He asked America to build a moonshot around moving a portion of its energy use off petroleum. He called on the country to unite behind an alternative future where high gas costs did not cripple the country. Meanwhile, big oil went in search of a political party. It went looking for candidates, think tanks, radio, and TV. It became the first large funder of movement conservatism, which would eventually move business profits into political outcomes with more success than could ever be dreamed.
Enter Ronald Reagan, the first candidate of big oil. Reagan got elected and convinced America that Carter was simply wrong on energy. Reagan did what Washington does best: lie. He told Americans to live large. Consume big. Energy is not a problem. Granted, he made minor rhetorical concessions to the energy problem, but his policies told a different story. His first act as president was to tear down the solar panels on the White House roof. His message was clear: America does not conserve. America does not sacrifice. America does not change it's reckless consumption for anyone -- including nature. Here is where Reagan used his strategic relationship with the evangelicals. "He will Provide."
Americans - lead by Reagan and Big Oil - we're like sheep being lead to slaughter. They got rid of science and created a 30 year consumption bubble based on a completely false energy premise.
So yes, we listened to Reagan and we increased our consumption and decreased all the research and effort that was leading to a less petrol-intensive future. We spent 30 years expanding our suburbs, building the largest, most costly network of roads and homes this world has ever seen. We built gas guzzlers and McMansions. We did this on the premise of cheap energy. Without cheap energy, our glorious postwar expansion starts to look like the greatest misallocation of resources in history. We got fooled into believing it was morning in America when we should have been rolling up our sleeves and making the tough transition to a sustainable energy future. We became catatonic consumers marching blindly into an energy void, lead by an actor who was being paid by special interests to ignore the greatest national crisis in generations.
Guess what happened after Reagan left office.
The oil started to do what Carter predicted: disappear, as China and India put more pressure on rapidly dwindling reserves. There were and are limits to nature, despite the conservative belief that science is a liberal conspiracy.
It is what it is. Meaning: the cost of energy has skyrocketed and we don't have a plan B.
We let a B rate Actor put us to sleep for 30 years - now it's too late. We are in a for a bumpy landing.
America got punk'd in 1980.
Carter is the only US President who had the balls to stand up against big oil. He is the only US President who didn't lie to Americans - to the contrary, he told them they had to make sacrifices as patriots so that future Americans would not be held hostage to expensive oil. He asked America to build a moonshot around moving a portion of its energy use off petroleum. He called on the country to unite behind an alternative future where high gas costs did not cripple the country. Meanwhile, big oil went in search of a political party. It went looking for candidates, think tanks, radio, and TV. It became the first large funder of movement conservatism, which would eventually move business profits into political outcomes with more success than could ever be dreamed.
Enter Ronald Reagan, the first candidate of big oil. Reagan got elected and convinced America that Carter was simply wrong on energy. Reagan did what Washington does best: lie. He told Americans to live large. Consume big. Energy is not a problem. Granted, he made minor rhetorical concessions to the energy problem, but his policies told a different story. His first act as president was to tear down the solar panels on the White House roof. His message was clear: America does not conserve. America does not sacrifice. America does not change it's reckless consumption for anyone -- including nature. Here is where Reagan used his strategic relationship with the evangelicals. "He will Provide."
Americans - lead by Reagan and Big Oil - we're like sheep being lead to slaughter. They got rid of science and created a 30 year consumption bubble based on a completely false energy premise.
So yes, we listened to Reagan and we increased our consumption and decreased all the research and effort that was leading to a less petrol-intensive future. We spent 30 years expanding our suburbs, building the largest, most costly network of roads and homes this world has ever seen. We built gas guzzlers and McMansions. We did this on the premise of cheap energy. Without cheap energy, our glorious postwar expansion starts to look like the greatest misallocation of resources in history. We got fooled into believing it was morning in America when we should have been rolling up our sleeves and making the tough transition to a sustainable energy future. We became catatonic consumers marching blindly into an energy void, lead by an actor who was being paid by special interests to ignore the greatest national crisis in generations.
Guess what happened after Reagan left office.
The oil started to do what Carter predicted: disappear, as China and India put more pressure on rapidly dwindling reserves. There were and are limits to nature, despite the conservative belief that science is a liberal conspiracy.
It is what it is. Meaning: the cost of energy has skyrocketed and we don't have a plan B.
We let a B rate Actor put us to sleep for 30 years - now it's too late. We are in a for a bumpy landing.
America got punk'd in 1980.
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