The Politics of Inaction

Photo Source: PedroGay

The hot political topic this week is how and when Washington will actually get something done.   This politics-as-usual that pursues watered-down bills that push timid incrementalism is seriously harming our chances of remaining the dominate country and economic power we were for the past 100 years. 

Our political circus stoked by the constant media’s play-by-play commentary reminds me of an op-ed Thomas Friedman wrote after the climate negotiations concluded in Copenhagen last month.  His take away from Copenhagen was quite simple.  Actions, not political posturing and non-binding agreements, will produce results.  The U.S. should forget leading negotiations and just lead.

“Maybe the best thing President Obama could have done here in Copenhagen was to make clear that America intends to win that (the clean energy) race. All he needed to do in his speech was to look China’s prime minister in the eye and say: “I am going to get our Senate to pass an energy bill with a price on carbon so we can clean your clock in clean-tech. This is my moon shot. Game on.”

Because once we get America racing China, China racing Europe, Europe racing Japan, Japan racing Brazil, we can quickly move down the innovation-manufacturing curve and shrink the cost of electric cars, batteries, solar and wind so these are no longer luxury products for the wealthy nations but commodity items the third world can use and even produce.”

While Washington plays political games, other countries have moved into action.  Recently, nine European countries have agreed to draw up plans for a renewable super-grid.  Running through the North Sea and into the mainland, the super-grid will connect and transmit power from every country’s renewable energy projects.  Scotland’s off-shore wind, Germany’s solar, Norway’s hydro and Denmark’s tidal power will be combined to produce renewable power for the region.  Ultimately, the goal is to expand the grid into Africa so continent-scale solar power can also be harnessed.  Don’t think this trend hasn’t been noticed by our economic alpha-male counterpart, China.  The country just vaulted past Spain, Germany and Denmark to become the world’s leading producer of wind turbines.  Parlay this with the fact that China is already the leading producer of solar panels and plans to spend $300 billion in the next decade to build the world’s most extensive and advanced high-speed rail network.

But that’s ok America, because we have Glenn Beck and Keith Olbermann to tell us who’s to blame when our economic competitive advantages end in the near future.