Above is a snapshot of a new-era scarecrow dancing off to a city filled with a glorious promise of efficiency, all thanks to the new GE-endorsed smart grid that is coming down the pike.
President Obama has said in the past he supports new energy technologies, and quite honestly, I support it too. I just feel it best comes from the private sector, not through forced government mandates. The market will decide, albeit slowly. It will still be a best-for-all solution, and not riddled with the confusion a government mandate often creates. With the Obama administration and democratically led government's promoting change in the energy infrastructure, the fallacy of false hope is being interwoven into the energy grid as it has been in banking and business over the last year (beginning with Bush's capitulation of both his conservative and capitalist principles in Stimulus I).
Above, the scarecrow is galloping off to a beautiful, sunlit city. However, will you permit me to rehash the ending of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz for you? What did Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man, Cowardly Lion, and Toto find when they finally completed their mission and met the Wizard? NOTHING. In the magical Emerald City, there was quite a bit of giddiness (perhaps the Munchkins were Obama supporters). The foursome approached the Wizard, only to realize the Wizard is little more than smoke and mirrors, powered by a huckster behind the curtain. The huckster (née Wizard) proceeds to grant fulfillment despite the revelation he was a liar. Need a heart? Perhaps a ticking watch will do. Need a brain? Perhaps you can get a diploma you did not have to work for. Need courage? No problem, just be granted a medal, and you'll have it (never mind the backward idea that one must usually be courageous, and then get a medal). When all the prizes are doled out, the huckster agrees to fly Dorothy home, but he fails, sailing off in his hot air balloon without her. Finally, the Good Witch arrives, and she tells Dorothy she could have went home the whole time, on her own, with three clicks of her heels, while repeating "There's no place like home."
I wrote all that to say this: Americans do not need gimmicky prizes to validate their intelligence, heart, or courage. If Americans will rise up and exercise their God-given ability, they will not need a magical wizard to solve their problems, à la Obama. We don't need a smart energy grid tracking our usage or making recommendations to us about when to use our electricity, as this commercial suggests. If Mr. Obama and the socialist democrats and the republican sympathizers will leave the economic markets alone, we will sort this out on our own, just as Dorothy did.
Stimulus package? I don't think so. Bailout? No thanks. But Obama's plans to save us will reveal themselves to be the machinations of a hucksterish wizard, full of hope and promise, with nothing good coming out if it. And even if something good came out of it, what will the cost be for America? I think it will be more than we are truly willing to pay. I would rather have little with freedom than plenty under tyranny. And it doesn't take many brains to figure that out.
