BY RUSSELL TURNER
SEARCHING FOR A MAGIC WAND
One of my biggest sources of recreation is sitting back in the recliner and watching a good movie. Usually I like to watch science fiction or adventure films, but on occasion I may watch a fantasy movie; some stories would involve a magician or someone using a magic wand. In the movies a magic wand has the ability to solve almost any problem, but we need to remember that is the only place such a device exists. Recently I read an article about a directive from our president to various government agencies concerning the use of energy derived from alternative means.
I am not a physicist, but I do understand that you cannot create power from nothing. I have found that too many politicians fail to understand that simple concept. Too many of our elected political class think that the way to a utopia is to take a pen and sign some document mandating that it be done. While I am not opposed to research to have alternate fuels, we need to realize that the technology we have today does not guarantee that alternate fuels will be reliable. Alternative energy production costs more and is less reliable. President Obama recently signed a memorandum directing the federal government to nearly triple its use of renewable energy sources for electricity by 2020. Under that directive, the government will be expected to get 20 percent of electricity from renewable sources, up from the previous goal of 7.5 percent.
Whenever government dabbles into our economic system some people can benefit wildly (usually large political donors) but government policies can have the effect of robbing other sectors of our economy of much needed money to expand a business or simply keep it open. The end result can be a net loss of jobs. For example, we need to take an objective look at the production of Gasohol. If the government subsidies were not in place, the gasohol fuel could not compete with plain gasoline. While the proponents of these programs will tell you that they create jobs, in essence the job demand is artificially generated because of government dabbling in the so-called free market system. All of this dabbling does have its consequences. Because of all of the corn being used to make alcohol, the cost of food products for humans and animals has spiked. While we may think that we are getting a good deal, in reality the subsided fuel is not so cheap after all.
With the development of fracking technology our country has the ability to be completely self-sufficient in our energy needs. For the time being we need to develop our fossil fuels, which would create millions of good paying jobs for our citizens, and we could keep all of the money we are sending to some oil sheik in the Middle East. Our president needs to understand that magic wands are only in the movies, and realize that his ink pen is not a magic wand and it alone will never solve our energy problems.
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