Traverse City Record-Eagle

Opinion

March 17, 2012

Another view: Energy policy requires long-term vision

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Many of the immediate and seemingly intractable problems that make headlines in America are not readily solvable by the federal government. Rather, it is up to the federal government to have long-term and consistent policies in place to prevent immediate, dangerous and intractable problems from happening.

And in such matters, it is really bipartisan and long-term policies that count. If such policies are not bipartisan, they will change every four to eight years as administrations change.

For example, nuclear deterrence has worked. Since 1945 no nuclear weapons have been detonated in war.

Now even testing is banned by treaty. Our multi-decade policy on nuclear deterrence has been bipartisan and thus long term, for generations.

Now we see gasoline prices skyrocketing and citizens blaming the government in general and specifically, President Barack Obama.

We should go back to President Jimmy Carter and every president and Congress since the late 1970s if we want to blame someone for high fuel prices.

Why?

Because as a nation we have never had a serious, long-term and effective energy policy, including how to best generate electricity, fuel our vehicles, heat our homes, etc. It is our fault as voters — not just the man in office holding the bag at the moment.

Gas prices, the Arab Spring, Iranian nuclear ambitions, energy dependence on foreign sources, wars still going on and looming on the horizon --- all are for sure immediate concerns. But it is wrong to simply lash out in anger and try to blame (or excuse) just one man or administration for these problems.

These are national issues and national problems. They will take national solutions.

If we the people in fact govern (through our representatives), then we the people should learn to work together as a nation to begin to fix the problems.

But such fixes will not happen overnight, despite our immediate anger and desire for such to happen.

The Joplin Globe Joplin, Mo.

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