If you’ve been a reader of my blog for any length of time, you’ve probably noticed I lean rather heavily towards the libertarian end of the political spectrum (not really a spectrum, per se, more of a 2-D grid, but I digress…). So it should come as no surprise to you that I was quite happy this morning when I stumbled upon the blog (yes, blog) of recent presidential hopeful Bob Bar, who is trying out for the Libertarian party. (As an aside, his blog runs WordPress and has comments enabled - a rare thing for a candidate!)

I guess I just can’t help myself - I get really happy when I read things like this:

“I want to end the artificial control of the economy and end burdensome taxation; take a hard look at cutting cabinet positions; reduce the cost of the occupation of Iraq by beginning the process of removing the security blanket from the Iraqi regime . . . return respect for habeas corpus; reinstate the rule of law; stop the warrantless surveillance of American citizens; and remedy the abuses of the Patriot Act. . . .”

If you’ve felt at all disillusioned with the existing two parties recently, try spreading the word about the Libertarian party. Encourage people to stop “voting for the lesser of two evils” and actually cast a vote that means something and that might actually change things, instead of just keeping the status quo around here. And even if (like me) you vote Libertarian just on principle, remember - a principled vote is never a wasted vote.

Political candidates from the two main parties often go on about how “it’s time for a change” and then they like to tell you how they’re going to do it - but really, the candidates don’t have the power to change anything. We the people are the ones with the power to change things. We the people are the ones who can take a stand against corruption and abuse and all the things that are wrong with our government today. So c’mon people - let’s make a change. Vote Libertarian!

This great article goes into great detail how the current surveillance society came to be, and looks at the historical origins of the entire process - and the debate that continues to this day. It is as enlightening as it is well-written.

No one should believe that real-time government surveillance of the communications network is an idea born of the 9/11 attacks or that it results solely from the Bush administration’s aggrandizing of executive power. The legal arguments that the government has asserted to support increased surveillance of digital space were first put forth in 1994, under a Democratic president, and they had little to do with the threat of Islamic extremism.

All the more reason to continue to fight for our own privacy rights at every turn - because by its very nature, Government (with a capital G) will scoop up every last bit of privacy you have if you don’t defend them. And before you know it, you’ll feel… well, a picture speaks louder than words:

“1984 was NOT supposed to be an instruction manual.”

No, it was not - but it seems like we’re following it as if it were.

I finally got around to watching “An Inconvenient Truth” tonight, and I have to say, I’m all riled up.

There can be no doubt that climate change is real and is caused by human activity. That’s not what I’m all riled up about. I’m all riled up about what we can do about it and more worryingly, is it already too late?

One of the first things to really “shock” me in the film was the graph of the world’s population. I suppose I’d always “known” it, but I’d never really “known” it, if you follow me. Our population isn’t growing exponentially, it’s growing in some way that defies my knowledge of mathematics to explain it. It’s more like a straight line rising straight up than any sort of curve. In the 1950s there were only a little more than 2 billion people in the world - now we are over 6 billion. In another 30 years there will be close to 9 billion.

That is one hell of a lot of people.

What is perhaps more disturbing is the percentage of the population that is “industrialized.” Because that percentage is rising at an astronomical rate as well. And if you consider that the more “industrialized” a people are, the more energy they consume, well… you don’t need a degree in economic theory to understand basic supply & demand. With that many people, demand for energy will go up a lot. And there is no way our supply can keep up - even if there were vast, untouched resources on the same scale as the Middle East, it wouldn’t be enough to keep up.

Without change, we are going to consume more and more energy. As supply dwindles, and as demand increases, economic pressure will push us to consume every last bit of energy possible - and to hell with the consequences.

We will put the future of the human race - the future of our children - at risk, just for a few more years of energy, of the lifestyle we’ve gotten used to, that we’re “comfortable” with. And this risk is far more than the risk we used to be afraid of at the dawn of the Nuclear Age.

There are only 3 possibilities to deal with this problem:

1. Reduce the population (thus decreasing demand)
2. Relocate the population (I’m talking about space colonization)
3. Invent new technologies to make better use of the limited energy we posses

Let’s address them in turn.

Number 1 is going to happen if we don’t do something yesterday. If things continue as they have gone in the last 50 years, we will see mass starvation and massive death all across the globe. One way or another, there will be fewer people around. But it won’t be a pretty sight.

Number 2 is my personal choice. Space colonization brings with it the ability to harvest energy from the sun - or even terraform other planets and use resources there instead of bringing them from Earth. At least then, if we screw up the Earth so bad, we ourselves won’t totally die out.

Number 3 is starting to happen - although still too slow in many people’s opinions. And new technology can only take us so far - we can only squeeze so much out of a limited resource, no matter how efficient we make the technology. Without deep, radical, fundamental changes in our understanding of how to get energy, we will run out.

When you look at it like that, all 3 choices seem pretty dismal. But the great thing is that we don’t have to choose just one - we can take the best part of each solution and try to use them all at once, and maybe together we can do something about it.

But there’s a dark side to all this. To make a difference, we all really have to do it together. I mean everyone, everywhere, every nation, every city, everyone. We can’t do it piecemeal. It can’t just be one or two or even three countries - even if they are the biggest polluters or energy consumers. It has got to be everyone. Because our human nature demands it - if you have to restrict yourself, change your lifestyle, you’re going to resent your neighbor if he (or she, or they) don’t have to do the same - if they get to keep their lifestyle, if they don’t have to make sacrifices like you do. Our human nature demands that we all give equally, or else none of us will give. (This is, of course, a form of the “tragedy of the commons.”)

And we will all have to give. This sort of change isn’t going to be easy. I have a favorite little quote from one of my favorite movies, “The Lion King,” that goes something like this:

“Change is good…”

“…Yeah, but it’s not easy!”

Truer words were never said.

But we must change. It’s not going to be painless - let’s get that right out in the open right now. It’s going to hurt. Maybe a little, maybe a lot. That’s the way change is. And like most major paradigm-shifting changes, you can’t really see how things are going to be until you’re on the other side - and so will it be with this change. We don’t know what the future will bring, or even what it will be like. But we know we have to make the change. Because we do know what the future will be like if we don’t change.

It is not going to be easy. But it will be good.

Once we are on the other side, things will be better. We’ll have the technology, the policies, the systems in place and it’ll all be easy. Because once you’ve made the change, and it’s over with, well, it’s no longer change anymore - it’s just the way things are.

As the movie credits rolled, I was reminded of another quote that I really like - maybe you’ve even heard it before. I think that it is just as appropriate now as it was when it was first uttered:

“For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal.”

John F. Kennedy
Address at American University
Washington, D.C., 1963

I overheard on the news this morning something about a “gas tax holiday” that someone (Senator Clinton?) was suggesting.

My immediate reaction? That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard.

Let me explain:

First off, giving a “holiday” from gasoline taxes is basically admitting that you’ve failed. You’re basically saying, “I’ve failed to keep gasoline prices from skyrocketing and things have gotten so bad that I’m going to try and give you a tiny break just so you won’t go bankrupt when trying to fill up your new Ford/GM/[insert name of your least-favorite car manufacturer here] Planetbuster SUV.” And while I admire politicians who are brave enough to admit failure, this is sort of a weaselly way of doing it.

Secondly, and perhaps most profoundly, is the fact that this is quite obviously a diversionary tactic, meant to draw our attention away from more important things. It is, quite frankly, an insult to our intelligence. It is basically saying “here’s a brief break from the price of gas, now vote for me!” It is bribery, in the truest sense of the word.

Now, trading favors like this for votes is an old political trick - and everyone’s been doing it for pretty much forever, so nothing new there. What’s different here is how brazenly open it is. Instead of the usual “if elected, I promise to do X,” it’s more like “if elected, I’ll personally write each and every one of you a $100 check - I promise!”

Never mind that the whole idea is basically a panacea. It’s like giving someone a pain reliever when they’ve had their arm chopped off. Sure, it’ll dull the pain for a bit, but they’re still gushing blood from the open wound!

Basic economic theory tells us what to do in a situation like this. If the price of a commodity like gasoline is going up, you can either increase the supply or reduce the demand. So, it’s either find more oil, or make us collectively use less of it. (Hint: a gas tax holiday does neither of these things - in fact, arguably, it increases demand, because everyone will fill up during the holiday, and there will probably be hoarding, people filling up portable containers and stockpiling gas - thus using more and leaving us in a worse position, supply-wise, after the holiday than we were before!)

So, you can see that the idea of a “gas tax holiday” is at the very least useless (and possibly even harmful) in the long term, and worst of all, is a brazen attempt at bribing the voting populace by hitting us all where it hurts - in our wallet after we’ve filled up.

To me, that seems like an incredibly shameful thing to do, and that’s why I believe it qualifies for the “Dumbest Idea Ever” title.

This post by Naomi Wolf is a year old, but it is still relevant.

What’s really scary is that all 10 of these steps have already been taken here in the US.

The steps that I most dread are:

• Set up an internal surveillance system
• Dissent equals Treason
• Suspend the Rule of Law

This is way past just “getting serious.” It is serious. The time for action is NOW. Talk to someone - anyone, maybe the person sitting next to you - and explain this to them. Tell them about how important it is to become active now, while we still have time - while it’s still OK to speak out.

Just a few changed minds and a few vocal voices can really put the brakes on this sort of thing. We just need some people to take an interest and actually become aware of what’s going on and say something. We’ve become too complacent - we’re not interested because we just assume that everything will continue as it was.

But it won’t.

Do something today. Don’t let anyone take the future away from  you.