I believe in:
- fiscal responsibility
- offering helping hands up, not hand outs
- liberal on social issues (can't we all just get along?)
- we need a strong military, but that strength should be used very, very wisely
- embracing of a fair global economy (emphasis on fair for all sides)
- respectful and interested in other cultures, beliefs, religions and ways of life
- the need for corporate, government and individual responsibility
- government regulation and oversight need to not unfairly impede the private sector, but oversight and regulation need to be there
However, in recent years I have become much more "radical" toward environmental issues. Some of this radicalism is self-admittedly tree-hugging liberalism. However, most of my belief adjustments are simply pragmatic. We are destroying our planet and our energy policies have created very serious national security issues. Economically we are so dependent on a commodity (oil) that we have little control of—businesses and individuals are held hostage in a lot of ways to the oil market and distant nations.
I have been cheering wildly and supporting as much as possible the "green" energy movement. A real green energy industry solves a lot of problems--slowing the damage to our planet, national security issues, the development of a new, profitable American manufacturing industry (we have the rare opportunity to restore America's industrial and manufacturing might).
As a pragmatist and a business person, I know that the green energy movement will not take hold until either it makes economic sense or until the government forces the issue. Government forcing this kind of issue is not the American way, so we are really dependent on the movement making economic sense.
The exciting thing to me is that we are getting there. Wide-spread usage of electric cars solves so many problems. But, I think we can all agree that there are some decided practical issues standing in the way.
Check out this article in this week's Newsweek. http://www.newsweek.com/id
The discussed economic model for the viability of electric cars is brilliant in its simplicity - why didn't I think of this? We would own the car, not the battery. So, as battery technology continues to improve we are not stuck with an $8,000 obsolete battery (a decided road block to buying an electric car myself).
Battery technology as it stands today does not allow for practical application in every area or for every person. But with the model discussed in this article, we have today a practical business model for some geographic areas and for some people--enough of a market to fund additional battery technology advancements.
Check out this article--exciting stuff. There are still practical issues at question, but the core of this model is the solution (in my opinion). There truly is very exciting hope for us yet.
