Save Detroit? I think I need help!
Still not enoughSomebody call my shrink. I need help.
The US auto industry angers me to no ends. Of course, everyone angers me to no end lately, and all this Obama hope is the root of it. Talk about transference.
It's not that I don't have hope. It's that I don't believe one person is enough. Obama can't save us from ourselves. We're the ones - ALL OF US - that need to change. Yes, some more than others, but all of us.
Instead, however, we just want Obama to fix the world, to make everything alright as we pick up another sack of Big Mac's in our gas guzzler and plant ourselves on the couch every day after work.
Whatever.
That's not democracy. This isn't just about Obama, or Democrats, or what ever label you most love using. This is about all of us. It's about the World.
Therefore, I think Obama and Democrats need to stick the stimulus package up their collective asses.
Why?
Because it isn't nearly enough. This isn't any damned moonshot. What is our goal as a Nation?
End foreign oil dependency by 2020.
Give us a moonshot!
Since we're going to bail out the Big 3 one way or another, why not use Detroit to make it happen? Put forth a plan that ends foreign oil dependency by 2020. Period. Put up a trillion dollars and make it happen. The return on investment will easily cover the costs of implementation faster than solar power ever will.
Besides, what does America stand for anymore?
Let's end foreign oil dependency NOW, and lets use the automaker bailout as the impetus.
Have I completely lost it?
Labels: Foreign Oil Dependency
posted by Dahcredyns at
11:29 AM
6 Comments:
I fully agree. Now is the time if ever there were one. We need a worthwhile, unifying, exciting goal. Between the benefits of getting rid of Saudi/Venezuelan leverage on the US and mitigating against global warming, it's hard to imagine anyone being against this except those entrenched interests that benefit from the status quo.
I must be crazy too. I actually agree with most of this.
Obama is not going to fix this mess by himself; just like Bush didn't cause it all by himself. The problems are huge, and the solutions will have to be equally huge.
But, I think anyone can see where we would be better off without foreign oil dependancy.
I grew up next door to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Headquarters. I had 2 brothers and a sister-in-law who worked for NASA. The whole ambiance of that time whit the "we can do it" attitude is exactly what we need now.
There will be waste and spending on dead end research, but there will eventually be discoveries that pay back beyond anyone's wildest dreams.
I know this can happen; been there, done that.
It takes a lot of effort to reverse momentum. I don't believe one man can do it, but I know that for our culture, we need a figurehead to rally behind. He can't get people on the bandwagon without some early compromises. I agree that major lifestyle changes are the only way we can hope to turn this around. However, we'll never get people to that point without smoothing out the curves.
I like the expression an wise old boss of mine used to use - the only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.
that's a great quote KP, it reminds of What About Bob and his 'baby steps' program.
Still, I'm not sure that Obama has defined his elephant, so its hard to start chewing on it.
Right now Obama has the pulpit and a congregation full of believers. Why not dare to dream?
I don't doubt that in a mono-y-mono conversation, Obama would agree with you on the issues and needed changes. However, he also knows that if he tries to turn the car too sharply, he'll just roll it. He sees us approaching the wall at high speed. He's got to decelerate, turn at a decent radius and accelerate away. Too sharp of a turn and the momentum of our consumer culture takes over and rolls him into the wall (and all of us with him). We have to allow him to put on the brakes since most of the culture doesn't even see the wall.
Absolutely. I'm not trying to imply that this is some easy task by any means. It might be impossible.
I just think that if there ever was a chance to risk such a moonshot, no President since Kennedy has had the political capital to try to solve such a challenge.
But as you point out, the American culture is a big part of the problem today, and today's pop culture is very different than it was during the time of Kennedy.
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