"Eighty percent of Republicans are Democrats who just don't know what's going on."
- Robert Kennedy, Jr.
Robert Kennedy, Jr. spoke at Ball State University Wednesday night in what was both a enlightening and enraging dissertation on the environment and economics. Kennedy heaped voluminous facts and figures on a rapt audience clearly shocked that they had given the Bush administration's ability and eagerness to rape and pillage the U.S. such short shrift.
The sheer numbers of lobbyists-turned-heads of such sensitive departments as the Interior, Energy, and Health and Human Services, who then turned over their policy decisions to the very industries from whom they were hired to protect their departments, were enough to make one's head spin.
It is, alas, too late to fight those battles; the damage is done. But it is not too late to start moving forward.
FOR THE COST OF YOUR ONE-YEAR SUBSCRIPTION TO FOREIGN OIL …
Kennedy addressed one stunning number that gives tremendous hope to environmental and economic progressives while invoking an overwhelming desire to grab one of those bleating Republicans by the neck and choke the nonsense out of him: $750B.
That's a common number these days, $750B. The stimulus bill is roughly that amount.
That number also represents the American taxpayer cash that is transferred to Saudi Arabia and other nations that either do not share American beliefs on humanity and liberty or who outright hate Americans. Seven hundred and fifty billion hard-earned American dollars going to fill the coffers of misogynist tyrants who, in some cases, arm terrorists to kill Americans, just so the U.S. can lavish in their precious oil.
Well, of course, that money isn't on the backs of current residents of this country. No, it's borrowed from China and consigned to future generations of Americans.
That number, Kennedy said, is roughly the amount it would cost for a new energy grid and the solar and wind infrastructure required to supply the energy needs of every American, including the electric cars they will be driving in the next two decades.
That's right — for the amount of money we send overseas in one year, the U.S. could be outfitted for free, renewable energy forever.
And taxpayers wouldn't even be burdened with the bulk of the cost! The infrastructure for a smart energy grid, which would also eliminate the need for peak plants — carbon spewers that run for weeks during the summer and waste vast quantities of energy only to serve customers for a few hours here and there when folks crank up the air conditioning — would run about $150B, only 20 percent of what is spent for foreign oil each year.
Private companies would foot the bill for solar fields in the desert Southwest and wind turbines in the Dakotas and Montana.
What's more, a smart energy grid would further reduce utility costs by allowing homeowners to sell back excess energy. A smart grid would recognize and redirect surpluses from efficient homes to other homes or businesses.
And none of this expels toxins into our environment.
Despite the economic woes and sense of gloom currently hovering over the U.S., there's a very real sense that, should leaders wisely pursue this tack, America is on the precipice of boom that would reverberate around the globe and likely change the face of international politics and hostilities forever.
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