Friday, August 29, 2008

The Politics of Energy

It is no coincidence that the Republican VP candidate is from the largest hydrocarbon producing state.  This will give McCain, as a very astute fellow pointed out to me today, the opportunity to go to Alaska with Governor Palin, be "won over" about drilling in ANWR and elsewhere, and come back to the lower 48 with this "epiphany".

Also, it is no coincidence that she has about the same big time experience as the top of the Democratic ticket - that was the point.  Obama and Palin are both GLARINGLY short on foreign policy experience, and I would not welcome a Commander in Chief Palin any more than a Commander in Chief Obama at this moment.  Again, I think that is ALSO the point.  After all, the odds are that a white, 72 year old, American male in McCain's condition AND position will live long enough to finish out a 4 year term.  Look at our previous 5 presidents.  Longevity comes with the job, it would seem.  The vice presidency is the perfect place, or at least one of the best places, for on the job training for the presidency.  One would have to agree that at the very LEAST Palin would get a couple of years under her belt before she would have to take on the top job.

Not so Obama.  He is at the TOP of the ticket.  Why is he so "special" in comparison to Palin? A couple of years ago he was a state senator and she was the mayor of a small city.  Hardly the stuff of presidential timber.

No, Palin is not going to be bringing over the hardcore feminists that backed Hillary.  Those folks were never in play.  Working class catholic mothers, on the other hand?  All she needs do is connect with a couple percent and this show is over.  McCain seems to understand that it is all about WINNING, and the Democrats seem to have believed that this was going to be Camelot, The Sequel.  Both parties seem to be suffering from the MTVization of politics.  Ever more style over substance.  Not that Obama and Palin are not both perfectly well intentioned folks of the highest moral character - they are.  But let us not forget that if Obama was a white guy from Chicago and Palin a white guy from Alaska... well, my bet is neither would be on a major party ticket.  Second and third string players are being moved up on the depth chart based on nothing more than the color of their skin and the content of their underwear rather than the content of their core competencies, to paraphrase a great man.

And if McCain died 35 days into office?  I cannot even imagine a Palin administration dealing with Russia and China, etc... and I feel the same way about an Obama administration.

The sad fact is that both parties, Republicans and Democrats alike, owe their continued existence to ONE ISSUE:  Abortion.  Our country battles this out every 4 years, each party's champions come forward to wrest control from the other - not on national security, not on energy, not on healthcare, not on the trade and budget deficits, not on a myriad of other very pressing issues - based on this ONE ISSUE.

I can absolutely, positively guarantee you this:  the energy issue is going to knock the 2 front teeth out of the abortion issue, and SOON.

I can't wait.  It can't happen soon enough.

Yours for a better world,

Mentatt (at) yahoo (d0t) com

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

MTVization indeed...

Your post is a perfect example of how the rulers of this country have distracted the consuming masses with a hand-puppet show: on the left hand is the donkey puppet, trading blows with the elephant puppet on the right hand.

You have been mezmerized by the abortion issue, others are mezmerized by the gun control issue, the health-care issue, the GWOT issue, or another of the endless distractions from the real issue: who gets what.

Right now it looks like poor boys from the wrong side of the tracks are going to continue getting screwed along with rest of the lower and middle classes.

Anonymous said...

98% of all the big "human" issues have already been decided (murder is indeed criminal now). Abortion and a few other wedge issues remain. And as long as things are pretty calm (like now), we are a 50/50 country, with a small number of events that can tip the balance one way or another. With the lack of any shortages or price hikes for food and energy today (the Jewel still has lots of cantaloupes and the Shell station remains open), the "MTVization factor is just about all we have left to decide elections. And I'm afraid Obama is becoming more spellbound by it. :(

A Quaker in a Strange Land said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
A Quaker in a Strange Land said...

Bro:

I come from the absolute lowest rank of the working class. Couldn't get any lower.

I have a great deal of experience with poor people, unfortunately. Mostly they doom themselves and their offspring through their own actions (my experience is that most poor. Life is NOT fair.

Life is an "every man for himself" event whether you or I like it or not.

Ever read Freud? Crazy bastard, but he a had couple of things dead to rights. Just a few percent of the world gets everything done - and THEY get the girl.

Think not? Let us do a study. In this study we are going to take photographs of the girlfriends or wives of the 100 most famous men in Hollywood, or the young adult sons of the 100 most wealthy men in the world.

Then, we are going to take photos of the girlfriends and wives of 100 randomly selected young adult truck drivers or landscapers.

We then are going to mix up the 200 photographs, and show them to 100 randomly selected young men from the most prominent business schools - and ask them which of the women in the photos would be an acceptable mate and which would be unacceptable under all circumstances but by appearance only.

Now, we cannot really do this experiment, but we can do the next best thing. You can ask ten young men that you know personally and ask them how they THINK this study would turn out.

The point is that, like it or not, the world is a competitive place. Think not? Super models date (have relations with) rock stars. Cheerleaders date (have relations with) football stars. You don't see a lot of super models dating restaurant bus boys.

I am as secular as you get, but Jesus of Nazareth was as bright a fellow as could be found at the time... "The poor will ALWAYS be with us". What a prophet!

Anonymous said...

Your mental study of pretty women and wealthy men was actually done and resulted in A good book called 'survival of the prettiest'. It examines human beauty and finds that what makes a woman attractive to a man boils down to the ability to bear healthy children... and what makes a man attractive to the majority of women is his ability to provide for her and her offspring. Who'd a thunk it?

Given that, it seems human beings are programmed to destroy their environment as they compete with each other over resources in order to have ever more children... as detailed at the DieOff.org site.

Too bad humans have not evolved past their instinctive drives.

Dan said...

You are ignoring the power of religion, if one believes they will burn in hell unless they oppose something, then they will oppose it, come what may. There is no stronger force on earth, and while there are not as many who feel the pull as in the past it is still a considerable amount and for a good many of those that do, the pull is absolute.

Also you are discounting feminist anger too much. McCain just cemented the election with PUMA support. As a practical matter there is very little to distinguish these clowns and most know it. While I agree it is style over substance, Obama has been outmaneuvered and defeated.

Dan said...

Also take a look at what is happening to the youth and the distorted sense of norms they are being fed. About half the local cheerleading squad are diddling a couple of retards and I am using retard as an adjective, not a pejorative, here.

A Quaker in a Strange Land said...

Dan! Hysterical!

Anyway, Obama has been outflanked IMHO.

And there is more to the story... think "unintended consequences"...

Anonymous said...

Nate Hagens over at the oildrum, actually did a video at the ASPO-Ireland conference last year on sexual selection and energy. Women prefer men who are wealthy and can provide for them. Hence those men tend to have larger carbon foot prints and energy requirements. We are our own worst enemies, as the desire to reproduce is innately hardwired into us. The whole world is on the race to build bigger, better, faster and thus the competition for mates intensifies. The earth has been kind to us in regards that energy has been cheap and abundant for a long time. But slowly the wheels will turn and we're on the downward cliff. If only somehow we could make using less energy sexually attractive. we'd cut back on oil use like crazy - globally!

A Quaker in a Strange Land said...

Nate could not have been more correct, in my opinion and based on my observations (and really, what else is there?).

Until either young men lose interest in beautiful young women, or ALL young women become equally attractive and hence leave no reason for the young men to compete for their affections... survival of the fittest will continue, in all of its unfair imperfection.

The rich GOT rich, for the most part, as a side effect of their ongoing competition for the "fairer maiden". I know many women, particularly feminist despise this intensely... but the phenomenon of our world does not give a good fart what you prefer or despise - it just is what it is.

Anonymous said...

Another blog of interest is http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/
The author John M Greer is the author of the long descent. Very insightful commentary.