Glad I could have been such a source of inspiration.
It's not going to happen. I used to have hope, even as late as last year this time. But my view on humanity has changed so much in the last year (you know the personal issues we've discussed off-line in the past). The Culture Ghost had an interesting post called "Know the Enemy." I'm going to have to combine a response to this post and that one I'll try to have it done sometime Monday.
"But my view on humanity has changed so much in the last year"
My view hasn't changed, I have always viewed humanity as fucked up. But that has nothing to do with this. If you want change, you make it happen. You cannot wait until people decide to change things, you make them change. The conservative movement didn't happen over night. We need our own movement.
While I'm not a big fan of people (self-described misanthrope), I do think we have potential. When I go to a museum, listen to music, visit a library, review some of the marvelous technological achievements (think back to this time in 1969), one does recognize we do some potential in the species.
However our day-to-day reality of the Consumer Culture quickly reminds me of what we are up against. You can't make people change. You can ridicule them, reason with them, castigate them, but you can't make them change. They have to possess 1) the desire to change 2) the capacity for change. The average American, I believe, is somewhat lacking in both these categories.
Consider the oil/fossil fuel crisis. Think about about it as it relates to change and then I'll unload a rather savage attack upon America and Americans on this topic. The two do dovetail rather well to illustrate our lamentable condition.
Okay, now that we've had an afternoon to consider the oil/fossil fuel impending crisis. In 1973, OPEC spurred on by the Yom Kippur War and a failure to come to a agreement with the major oil companies, essentially reduced the flow of oil to the West. Inflation, chaos, resentment and a huge jump in gasoline prices. We even had gas rationing.
Jump forward to the end of the decade during the Carter administration and we have somewhat the same problem as the Shah was deposed and a very anti US government came to power. Carter was quite proactive about energy conservation and once said our dependence on foreign oil was a threat to our national security. Americans didn't believe him and voted Saint Ronnie into power so he could defeat Communism.
So what has happened in all those years? Well, the Detroit auto-makers reluctantly agreed to make minor increases in fuel economy. The oil companies got bigger. The Arab nations became major power players in the world (which is basically like letting teenagers run anything)(more on this comment later). St. Ronnie got on his John Deere tractor mower and single handedly defeated the Evil Empire. And after the recession of the 80s and early 90s was over, cars and houses got really, really big.
During all of this, has a coherent, cohesive and achievable national energy policy been developed? Absolutely not. We've had thirty years to avoid the place we find ourselves in today. And just where is that.
Look at the American auto industry. They are still fighting (even as we communicate) attempts by Congress to raise the fuel efficiency of their product. And look at their books...these people are bleeding money like hemophiliacs at a barbed wire convention. Of Ford and GM, I predict Ford will be out of business in the next five years. Can you imagine this nation without Ford Manufacturing? This company was one of the foundations of the American industrial revolution...we should be shocked and distressed.
Best to make this two parts before Haloscan cuts me off...
Can you imagine had Ford or GM taken the challenge and said, we are going to make the world's safest, most fuel efficient vehicles, and then we're going to apply ourselves to alternatives to gasoline?
Why, they'd probably be exporting cars to the rest of the world right now (with a nine month back-order list)? Instead, Toyota is poised to take over as the leader in auto sales in the U.S. ? How did that happen?
Let's jump to the Middle East, where we are ever so popular. We've been placating and appeasing the Saudi regime for decades now. And they are very, very unpopular at home. It isn't by accident that 15 of the nineteen 9/11 hijackers were Saudi. The average Saudi does not look kindly upon of our unabashed support for a government they view as corrupt, hypocritical and oppressive. Look how popular we are in Iran. If Nigeria wasn't Chaos held in check by the sheer brutality of its regime, they'd probably hate us, too.
Everywhere there is oil, you'll find the United States meddling. And you'll find misery, corruption and resentment. We invaded Iraq under the false pretext of the WMDs, but the real goal was to secure a major base of operations in case we have to seize more oilfields. Carter's warning came true. Our national security is in jeopardy due to our dependence on foreign oil. We are bleeding out $10 billion a month to maintain the occupation in Iraq...any idea of how many solar panels that is? We have created a small army of Arabs who now hate us with a passion and are willing to die as they hurt us. A handful of American Franklins ain't gonna pacify this resentment.
So you've had thirty years of foreign and energy policy directed by a bunch of business men...where has it gotten us?
And we haven't even touched upon the idea of global climate change and humanity's collective contribution to that...
And now the punchline: What has the Average American or AvAm (as MickeyZ has coined the phrase...you might want to check out his blog, you'd probably dig his outlook) done about all this? About the only thing they did was to purchase imported automobiles for a while before the SUVs and trucks came out.
Has the AvAm changed their habits? Has the AvAm elected officials that were for a strong domestic energy policy? Has the AvAm stopped building monster homes that are energy gluttons? Have we changed any of our habits? Very little...the compact fluorescent bulb seems to be quite popular, but it may be a trifle late on the scene.
In short Americans have continued their wildly consumptive habits as if they were entitled to every damn drop of oil on the planet. I don't think half this country would mind if we were to seize the entire oil producing region and declare it ours, I really don't...it's American exceptionalism at its finest.
So how do we get people to change? If you aren't aware of 1)global warming 2)the finite supplies of oil 3) our relationships to nations that mostly hate us, then you (the AvAm) probably are probably too stupid to be involved in change.
And how did it come to pass, with all our technology, our outstanding scientists and engineers, our innovative tinkerers, to find ourselves in the place we are today?
Particularly when we had thirty years to avoid this.
How did this happen?
"And how did it come to pass, with all our technology, our outstanding scientists and engineers, our innovative tinkerers, to find ourselves in the place we are today?"
Unfortunately, for a several decades, science has not been about pure knowledge and research of new ideas. Instead, most science majors go into a very specialized field which leads them directly to a corporation or government job after graduation.
A large portion of science in the last 50 years has gone towards defense and pharmaceuticals, and in the more recent decades, computer technology.
I dare say that more people will go into researching the next big drug trend (viagra, weight loss, ADD, etc) than will go into research for curing cancer and HIV. Conversely, more engineering and hard science people will go into either information or defense sectors than will go on to research alternative fuels, better solar cell or fuel cell technology, etc.
Grants come from big corporations and if your ideas for research aren't streamlined to fit into what the corporations want, you get no funding. This makes an environment that is the antithesis of innovation. Can you be innovative if you are allowed to research only a few select issues that have been pre-decided by big business and government?
Other than that, I don't need a history lesson. I already knew everything you said about oil, and then some.
I once read somewhere ( I think Gore Vidal)that a country cannot be at war and have an enlightenment period. We have been perpetually at war since WWI. I think that this is one cause of the lack of innovation in science and art in this country.
"I don't need a history lesson." I was attempting to provide an historical background for framing the questions I wanted to pose. Yes, perhaps it might have been easier to say "We've had thirty years to prepare for this."
Sorry to waste electrons on your blog. I'll be going now.
Currently, I drive a Chevy Impala. My husband and I have one car between us. It gets 30mpg, so it is pretty good in that area compared to American cars. However, for my next car purchase, I am thinking about getting a Prius. If Chevy were to make a comparable hybrid, I would think about sticking with them. At the moment though, it looks as though I will be buying my first foreign car.
"Sorry to waste electrons on your blog."
Are you always this dramatic?
I was not trying to be insulting. I was just letting you know that we are on the same page as far as the history of oil.
You are very touchy. But, you are also very rude to other people. Why is that?
http://www.impactlab.com/modules...ticle&
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From what I've seen, three+ party systems can't work unless you have a proportionately representative parliamentary executive system (ie Germany, the UK). In a winner-takes-all format like the U.S. has, more than two parties would mean that our "commander in chief" would most likely lead by plurality, not majority... and with the political polarization plaguing this country, that would be a really bad thing (imagine a 12th party president elected to office with only 15% of the overall citizenry voting for him/her). That's why we don't just need a multi-party system, but we need a complete structural overhaul of our executive branch.
Just thought I'd throw out my two cents 
. Great post.
-Jules
"proportionately representative parliamentary executive system"
Yes! I completely agree that this is what we need. Of course, this is not something you can fix from within the system. We need a new constitutional convention.
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