The military could become the biggest funder of Green Technology in America. The military is requesting bids for additional battle-tested renewable energy research.
On Oct. 4, 2010, the New York Times reported that the military, concerned by its dependence on foreign oil, is going to be deploying a unit of Marines who will survive off of renewable technology. They plan to use solar-chargers for the communications equipment; solar-shaded tents to provide shade and electricity; and energy-conserving light bulbs.
The reason this news is so fascinating is because it is ironic: The military, usually associated with Conservative Republican values, is hell-bent on using Green Energy, the symbol of Liberal Democratic progressivism, to wage its wars more efficiently.
If the military succeeds, the United States will be able to fight wars longer and with a lower carbon-footprint. They will also, as a side effect, create an entire industry of battle-tested, military-grade renewable energy technology…which I will probably be able to put on the roof of my house when the military is done with it.
The message: “Republican” entities can fund “Democratic” initiatives. And, equally, “Liberal” ideas can make “Conservative” ones work better.
This all speaks to a larger issue that America faces today: neither the Republicans nor the Democrats have any good ideas anymore. We see the stress this is causing our country in the polarization of politics that we are witnessing today.
Perhaps there is a solution: Synthesize both Republican and Democratic ideas. Instead of yelling at each other, maybe we could sit down and calmly discuss how the military could secretly subsidize the entire environmentalist cause of renewable energy. That way the Republicans will not get angry that we are subsidizing the renewable energy industry and the Democrats will not get angry that we are spending too much on the military.
The military is not the only organization catching on to this idea. It is everywhere. Last week Thursday, at a Spark M. Matsunaga Center for Peace Studies panel discussion on torture at the William S. Richardson School of Law, Col. Larry Wilkerson, a former Colin Powell aide and fierce critic of the Bush Administration’s Enhanced Interrogation policy (he called it torture) was asked this simple question:
“Why be a Republican at all? Why not just be a Democrat?”
It was a question that a lot of moderate Republicans–the kind who don’t understand how the Republican Party, the party of small government, personal liberty, and self-reliance, became the party of Big Government Conservatives, the Patriot Act and Medicare Part D– are asking themselves these days.
And Wilkerson had an answer.
“There isn’t a whisper of difference between the basic domestic and foreign policies of the presidents of either party for the last 60 years. I don’t think it matters anymore that you’re democratic or republican, because neither really has, or seems to have the answers, or if they have the answers, the courage to execute… .
“There’s a radical thought that the center is now radical. In fact there are a couple of think tanks in Washington that claim the radical center, because that is the radical thing to do these days; not be Rush Limbaugh and not be Nancy Pelosi,” said Wilkerson.
One week later I attended a talk on immigration put on by the Federalist Society at the WSRSL. The speaker, Dr. James Jay Carafano, identified himself as an independent and he worked for the Heritage Foundation, which is the official Conservative Think Tank of Washington, D.C.
I expected the speaker to be a radical, ranting conservative yelling about Mexicans taking their jobs and securing the border. What he turned out to be was a perfectly sensible independent who said that “securing the border” never works and that we really need to secure the Mexican economy if we want to reduce the amount of Mexican immigration to the United States.
Is it possible that centrism could be the new radicalism? Would the center be radical enough to suggest that the Military use Green Technology to more efficiently fight its wars? Would it be centrist to suggest that Teacher’s Unions are actually hindering education reform all across the country? Could it be centrist to that immigration is a more complex problem than just installing a border fense?
The time has come for a new wave in politics. Maybe it will be called the Radical Center. Whatever it’s called, I hope it’s smart enough to give our troops machines that can convert readily available plant life (read ‘Poppy Seeds’) life into bio-fuels.