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March 25, 2004 – It’s no secret,
and yet it is flying below the radar.
Kerry has been giving feints that his
campaign will be one of criticizing Bush on Iraq and promoting his
own middle-class tax cuts. The Bush campaign expects to paint Kerry
as weak for not supporting defense spending and as a big-taxer who
will roll back their tax cuts and, somehow by doing that, kill the
economy.
We at The Moderate Independent are sorry
to inform you, but this will in no way be the shape of the debate
this election. President Bush will be disarmed, assailed and
completely unable to defend himself, against the Kerry campaign
centerpiece that the Senator’s camp has been holding under their
cloaks so far in the campaign.
While President Bush can boast of
spending and shooting, Kerry will be clearly able to show only he
has an actual plan to solve the problems in the Middle East – and a
plan the whole nation knows President Bush never could or would
implement.
While President Bush can say, “Give my
tax cuts more time,” John Kerry will be able to concretely and
clearly demonstrate he has a plan to greatly increase the wealth of
America and create a massive bounty of new jobs.
And, on top of all this, the single
policy that will accomplish both of the above will also hit Bush in
his weakest spot, the environment. In this area where President
Bush has no defensible record, John Kerry will be the first modern
Presidential candidate to present a plainly affordable – indeed,
wealth creating – plan to truly improve the air all of us breath and
water we drink massively which will be clearly tangible to every
single American.
What is this “’A’-Bomb” policy?
No one believes for a second we can bomb
the Middle East into peacefulness. Everyone knows the only way to
actually secure peace in the Middle East – indeed, to make the whole
region powerless and irrelevant – is to get us free of our
dependence on their oil.
Every respectable economist knows that
in order for any economic entity to grow – be it a company or a
nation – you don’t just need a bunch of money sitting in the
company’s coffers but new directions of potential growth to take the
company, or nation.
And people know that small measures of
slightly reducing corporate pollution will not achieve enough to
truly make the air, even in our biggest cities, clean as it is in
the mountains and countryside. Only elimination of the burning of
fossil fuels, by power plants, cars, and all sources, will
accomplish something tangible to all. Picturing a clogged freeway
with no smoke being created would be an astonishing image to all
Americans.
When John Kerry launched his campaign a
year ago December, he proposed first and foremost make a “space
race-like” charge toward alternative energy. And when he breaks out
this plan during the general election, it will be clear to the
American people that this indeed is the only way to really deal
usefully with the Middle East problem, a true way to expand our
economy, taking it boldly in a new, extremely profitable direction
(just think all the wealth of the Middle East suddenly headed our
way instead,) and, at the same time, a realistic plan to actually
take not just some bits but the majority of the pollution out of our
air.
And even more, there is absolutely no
downside to Kerry’s plan.
In fact, not following Kerry’s plan has
a massive downside besides not accomplishing what is laid out
above: the European Union has already launched a multi-hundred
million dollar, aggressive campaign to develop alternative energy
technologies. They know that whoever leads the way toward
alternative energy technology will lead the economy of the future.
And if the EU gets there first, they can eclipse America
economically and tip the balance of power scales in their direction
to at least level out the playing field with the US, if not move
themselves ahead.
Be it solar cells, hydrogen technology,
efficient wind technology, whoever develops useable, affordable
products first will become the energy broker to the world.
America has the distinct advantage in
this race if it chooses to engage. It has far more research and
development infrastructure and potential funding. But beyond that,
it has a great natural resource the EU lacks – a mass of barren,
constantly sun-baked desert that makes up the western third of the
nation.
A German company has already developed a
“solar tower” technology, which Australia has begun to implement.
One of these solar towers – which will stretch to twice the height
of the world’s current tallest man-made structure - can generate
enough electricity to power 200,000 homes. (see
Bulletin EdDesk article for detailed info or this
BBC
article )
“There's no doubt that it works –
efficiently, reliably, and simply,” reports the above Bulletin
EdDesk article.
The only thing truly holding back the
transition to the use of emission-free hydrogen energy is that,
currently, the energy it takes to convert water to useable hydrogen
fuel is more than the amount of useable hydrogen energy created.
However, picture a western United States
checkered with solar towers which are used to make the US the
hydrogen supplier of the planet. Yes, like the Middle East now is
with oil, the US could be with oil’s clean burning replacement fuel,
hydrogen, as well as with useable electricity for the nation created
with zero emissions.
It is a simple fact that it can be
done. The technology was created, as the article states, decades
ago. There is only one thing that has prevented it from occurring
so far – a leader who decides that is what we are going to do.
John Kerry will make the effort to
switch from Middle East-supplied oil to clean,
wealth-and-job-producing alternative energies a space race-like
priority for the nation.
So, now knowing this, let’s take a look
at the debate that will actually occur this fall.
President Bush: I bombed Iraq when they
said I shouldn’t.
Senator Kerry: I will have us off of
foreign oil within 10 years, and so actually solve the Middle East
problem once and for all.
President Bush: I gave tax cuts, and
trust me, they will lead to jobs eventually.
Senator Kerry: I will boldly lead the
nation in a new direction, making sure we are not left behind in the
new race to lead the future alternative energy technology market,
creating many new jobs in the short term, and a massive increase in
economic prosperity – on top of national security – in the long
term.
President Bush: Global Warming is not
real sound science – I believe in common sense in balancing
reductions in pollution with corporate bottom lines.
Senator Kerry: My plan will eliminate
most pollution from our air, even in the most crowded of cities, as
well as in the most remote of rural communities.
What could President Bush possibly say?
It is simply a case of no plan versus an amazing, truly world
changing plan.
President Bush’s tactic – which he
unveiled briefly in response to Kerry’s initial pitch for this
policy a year and a half ago during his 2003 State of the Union
Address – will be to pretend he will do the same thing.
“In this century, the greatest
environmental progress will come about not through endless lawsuits
or command-and-control regulations, but through technology and
innovation. Tonight I'm proposing $1.2 billion in research funding
so that America can lead the world in developing clean,
hydrogen-powered automobiles,” said President Bush in that speech.
(see
2003 State Of The Union transcript )
“…Join me in this important innovation
to make our air significantly cleaner, and our country much less
dependent on foreign sources of energy,” he continued.
But the nation knows that oil is the
Bushes and the Bushes are oil, and that, as the comment proved to
be, any talk of leading a charge toward alternative energy will not
be on a scale that will threaten their every heart and soul, oil
companies and the fossil fuel power structure.
Moving boldly to eliminate the nation’s
dependence on foreign oil so as to truly deal with our Middle East
problems. Having an actual new direction to take the American
economy, a concrete plan that will increase the nation’s wealth and
create jobs, not just sit around hoping companies will use extra tax
cut-granted cash to somehow create some kind of jobs. Starkly and
massively eliminating harmful, toxic pollutants from the nation’s
air and water. Preemptively dealing a true blow to Global Warming
as the ability to pretend it does not exist as a threat rapidly
diminishes.
When the Bush administration does not
gain a second term this fall, they will blame the media, they will
say it was unfair attacks by the Democrats and liberals and Kerry,
etc.
In reality, it will be that they have
been finally called on the fact that they have no actual plan beyond
insults, attacks, and rhetoric, no specific action course with
tangible final solutions in sight, while their opponent has a truly
nuclear-strength platform that he actually would implement if
elected.
And remember, the polls have the race
tied even before Kerry has begun to make this part of his case to
the nation. | 
