I think this is the moment, Mr. President. This is the point when something needs to happen. The country has been waiting breathlessly. There’s a lull in the news cycle. And the news has been pretty bleak this year. We need a jolt. A wake-up call. A Big Idea. We need a little reboot of hope. We need something big. And now is the time.
The grueling buzz of the Health Care fiasco is starting to wear off; and though you succeeded where many before you failed, when the dust settled, you looked the worse for wear. After that a mine exploded. Then an oil rig. Now one of the most devastating ecological disasters in recorded history has only now started to ebb after 3 months, while the consequences are likely just beginning. We’re weary after 9 years of war. We’re poor after 3 years of recession. Also it’s really hot.
We need something to smile about. Something to look forward to. Something to cheer for. Something to hope for again.
But What?
It should be ecological, because of the cleansing feeling we all need a good dose of, but not something math-y and complicated like Cap and Trade. It should involve adding jobs, but not in a Big Banks and Stimulus Packages kind of way. Preferably, it should focus on Technology and Manufacturing, and help reduce Fossil Fuel dependence. It should capture the country’s imagination, with a promise of a brighter future, and if possible, leave a positive visible impact on our infrastructure, pervasively, on a local level, throughout the country. In an ideal world it would noticeably increase nation security along the way.
Most of all it should be something big and flashy, so that you can proudly announce from a podium, in front of a catchy slogan, to the country and to the world: It’s going to be alright. I have a plan.
Mr. President, I think you should announce a program to promote a Nationwide Distributed Renewable Energy Network. That basically means Solar Panels and Windmills. Everywhere. And make it a production. Tell the world that as long as you’re president, if Congress will co-operate, you’ll offer assistance to any individual, family or business in the country that installs local renewable energy sources to the grid.
It will almost pay for itself. Millions of people will do it. And it’s going to be almost impossible to oppose. (Just don’t call it something stupid like SCHIP. Try something flowery and happy this time..... call it the Sun Catcher Program or something.)
The results would be almost instantaneous. We already have the infrastructure, a Nationwide Energy Network – you know, the power lines we see every day. It’s just that those large old smelly power plants aren’t very distributed energy sources. But we can start attaching local energy sources to the grid right now. Anyone can buy solar cells or wind generators, put them on the roof, and plug them into the network. All the pieces are there; it would just be plug and play.
Of course, people are already plugging in. If you install solar panels on your roof today, the energy bill savings will more than pay you back in a few years. And when your panels are producing more power than you need, they automatically feed energy back into the network, alleviating the entire local network. You even get paid by the power company for contributing.
It seems like a no-brainer. Anyone who installs enough Solar Panels or Windmills on their property can wipe out their entire future energy bill with a one-time payment, and almost nothing in maintenance. Why wouldn’t everyone do it? Well, of course, the one time hurdle is too large for many people to jump. So why not give them a boost? You don’t even need to outright give them the money. Americans are proud. Tell them it’s a no-interest loan. Just for patriots. We’ll help you re-shingle your roof, tomorrow, with solar panels, and when your energy bill goes down 50 bucks next month, well, then you can pay us back some of that 50 bucks until everyone is square. After all is said and done, you’ll have a new roof and a permanently reduced energy bill, and Uncle Sam didn’t lose a dime.
Of course, Mr. President, you’ll need some start-up cash. You’ll need money to sponsor some programs to teach local carpenters and handy-people how to distribute and install solar panels and windmills on their neighbor’s houses. Maybe you can even help pay for some new high-tech manufacturing lines. Of course you’ll give this new overnight flood of small businesses insane tax breaks and then proclaim loudly and proudly that you’ve done so. Maybe in a few years you’ll even have a few hundred Joes the Carpenters stumping on the campaign trail that you’re the best thing that’s happened to small business since the Sliced Bread Bakery.
So the question is... where do you get the other funds without looking like you’re giving out another stimulus package. Well, there’s the BP money. Of course you can’t sap any resources needed for the oil spill cleanup, so using the $20 billion escrow fund might be tricky, but by using some of that money like a scholarship to jump-start the Sun Catcher Program, you’d be spurring the recovery effort by counter-attacking the damage done to the environment and the gulf-coast economy. In a way, it would be part of the cleanup.
And what of security? Well, that’s easy. A Distributed Network is way more stable than what we have now. After this thing gets up and running, never again will the Eastern Seaboard go down for a weekend. There will be no more rolling black-outs. Ever. And in the event of a disaster or attack, one downed power plant won’t cripple an entire region. You can literally announce that anyone who installs local power sources to the grid will be helping make America safer. And who knows, after enough people plug in, years down the line, we might not even need those power plants at all anymore. We can make them into slightly toxic museums. And when everyone has electric cars that can plug into the grid, well, we won’t need those disgusting gas stations any more either.
This is all within our grasp right now. The technology exists. The workforce is out there, waiting for a job. The money is around. America is ready to rally behind a great new Big Idea, pitched by the world’s top front-man.
I really think if you jump out there and start cheerleading for a radical program such as this, you will turn around the entire mood of the country. You’ll take back the narrative and you’ll look like you’re driving the car again instead of careening, while you swat at the bratty kids in back (I'm not talking about your kids, Sir, I mean more like Glenn Beck and those sorts of kids.) You’ll look pro-active in the face of an impending energy crisis. You’ll be a hero to the environment and help heal the ongoing wounds along the gulf coast. You’ll see a spike in jobs and spending in local economies. And best of all, people will see it. Everywhere we go we’ll say, Look at all that new technology on my block. Obama did that. Slowly, our neighborhoods will be transformed into clean, glimmering, high-tech future-lands, and everyone will remember that you made it happen. That you were the one with the Big Idea.
And if it doesn't work, you can always blame it on me.
Sincerely,
Dave Ciaccio