A Presidential Speech

I came across this speech by Al Gore today. He speaks with the freedom of a man who is no longer forced to pander to the American people or Special Interests in order to maintain his political position. Gore first lambastes the current state of American society. After cataloging our problems as a society, he divides them into three categories: economic, environmental and national security. Rather than tracing small, incremental solutions which may partially fix each individual problem, Gore identifies the recurring problem threading all of the problems together, an addiction to carbon-energy. Gore then challenges our current politicans to break away from the current mode of politics which he describes as "[tending] toward incremental proposals made up of small policies designed to avoid offending special interests, alternating with occasional baby steps in the right direction. Our democracy has become sclerotic at a time when these crises require boldness." Gore proposes a ten year plan, in which our country aims to be completely powered by renewable sources. Gore recognizes the boldness of his challenge, but believes that the technology and capital is there, if the government is only willing to take the necessary political steps.

This is a speech a Presidential candidate should be making. Obviously it would take considerably more courage for Barack Obama or John McCain to propose something like this because they have much more to lose. Gore has no voters to alienate and no donors to lose, so he's free to state his views without repercussions. And it just further illustrates the sad state of our national polity today, that the two men with the greatest audiences feel they can't speak freely, for fear of scaring them. Yet, America needs to be scared. I agree with Gore; what we are facing now at the nexus of our economic, national security, and environment troubles is the biggest threat this nation has faced since the Great Depression. The rising gas prices, rising food prices, creeping inflation and unemployment, are not a mere cyclical downturn. They are symptoms of cheap energy, one of the foundations of our economic boom, being chipped away from underneath us.
We're fighting a war without the typical sacrifices, we're spending while ignoring mounting debt, and we're taking tax cuts as our infrastructure and public safety net systems are decaying around us. While making the transition to renewable energy is not a cureall for all of these problems, it certainly would be an auspicious start.