Rodent Regatta

I think of myself as a fiscal conservative and a social liberal or libertarian. I basically dislike the ”career politician” and find myself equally frustrated with people on both sides of the aisle depending on the topic of the moment.

My stance means that I believe there is very little that the government ought to be spending money on besides a few of the Founders’ basics. With that position, if the government isn’t spending much money, it isn’t necessary to tax us as deeply. (We are deeply taxed if you hadn’t noticed.) I also believe there is emperical data to support the notion that with lower taxes, we become a more giving society, thereby caring for many of the social needs that government has been institutionalizing for a century.

Ever since the quest for a moon landing began, people have called for similar (government-funded) efforts of a similar scale for any number of causes. Nothing has ever caught the national consciousness quite like the first few Gemini and Apollo missions.

However, that doesn’t stop the well-meaning from chasing decent ideas (energy independence) for the wrong reasons (a ”clean” environment) using the wrong methods (taxes).

There are two initiatives that could be launched privately on a national scale. One is the pursuit of a 5 to 10-year shift from gasoline (i.e. foreign oil) burning vehicles to vehicles that are powered by fuel cells. (You might make a mental note that fuel cells powered those Gemini and Apollo spacecraft.)

I wrote about fuel cells yesterday. The technology to build the vehicle exists. Your local convenience store or gas station simply isn’t a hydrogen station. Not yet anyway. We need that distribution system for hydrogen to fuel the cars and fuel the iniative.

The second initiative of some national scope is also one of total transformation to a long-standing industry. This nation’s original, monopoly-based telecommunications networks and services are ripe for replacement. Only (flawed) regulatory measures sustain them. In short order, we could see the lighting of important new fiber optic networks carrying IP packets of voice, data, video and entertainment from coast to coast. To get there, we need to let the old ways go away – quickly.