Don't Need Sunglasses

Soldier 1:

We starve, look at one another
Short of breath
Walking proudly in our winter coats
Wearing smells from laboratories
Facing a dying nation
Of moving paper fantasy
Listening for the new told lies
With supreme visions of lonely tunes
--Let the Sunshine In (Hair)

Constantly talking isn't
necessarily communicating
--Eternal Sunshine
of the Spotless Mind (2004)
______________________

Since 1975, every politician passing through his government tit-sucking phase has mouthed platitudes about gaining independence from foreign oil.

Thirty-six years on, the dance continues -- the only new twist being the unshakable conviction of the ultra-Right that oil shall flow copiously from the land upon which God has shed his grace. Forgetting, of course, the fact that mountaintops may have to be removed and hydraulic fractioning (fracking) may irrevocably damage the environment; certain shibboleths are inviolate. The U.S.A.-by-Gawd has a right to petroleum is one of these.

Some incongruities in the face of limited resources like petroleum are glaring. Here in the Sunbelt, solar power is pretty much non-existent. Sunlight is plentiful and free as love in 1968 Haight-Ashbury (and less dirty), but few are embracing it. Those innovating solar cell technology will most likely have to take their patents abroad for production, such is the lack of conviction in the States for alternative energy sources.

Tallahassee has only one apartment complex which is solar-assisted; there are no laws mandating solar use in new construction. Our approach to energy is helter-skelter, while our commitment to sink trillions of dollars into foreign adventures which guarantee us naught in the way of a secured lifestyle continues unabated. While we fight as unpaid mercenaries, the rest of the world invests resources into innovation and implementation of energy conservation initiatives which will provide them a sustainable future. They do this while weakly cheering on the U.S. in its depletion of its coffers a world away, closer to them than to us.

The U.S. has plentiful coastline offering hydro and wind capability, but we do not seem to be exploiting these cleaner resources in any meaningful way. Instead, we accept our serfdom to the oil kings , and feel compelled to mouth pious platitudes about supporting the troops, like lemmings off of cliffs.

But who will support the civilians when the lights go out?