by rangerone314 » Thu 04 Jun 2009, 08:12:47
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')Please be advised that no matter what statement you make or what data you present their are many people on here who will react nastily, especially if your statement is one of hope for a better future.
The problem with our future is mostly lack of leadership, yes we have the ability to build a fission based electric grid like the one used in France. Yes we have the ability to build cars that run on electricity for short trips. Yes we could convert coal into liquid fuels.
We lack the leadership and the will to do these things, therefore when we finally admit that oil has a limit and we have passed it the cost and difficulty we will run into in implementing those changes will be very large. The majority of posters on this website think they will be insurmountable and our civilization will collapse, so when you present hope they pounce like a pack of ravening wolves.
Good points! Our cultural MO seems to be one of waiting until something reaches a crisis, and THEN reacting. World War II is a great example. Only Russia & England were not conquered by the Germans by the time the US jumped in. AND it took a surprise attack by the Japanese that killed thousands of Americans at Pearl Harbor to get us into the ring. And at least then, we seemed able to move a lot faster than we do now. From 1941 to 1945 (FOUR years) we boosted our military so that by the end of the war, 16 million Americans had served in the military. Now we have trouble forming 1/10 of a million Iraqis in SIX years into an army. It seems to take years to get a small amount of work done on a frickin highway.
We're going to do what we always do, which is wait until the crisis has descended upon us, and then it will be too late.
Winston Churchill said "You can always count on Americans to do the right thing. After they've exhausted all the other possibilities."
The reason some people are doomers is that they understand what the standard M.O. IS and realize that it will not be sufficient this time around with peak oil.
Or as I put it, fill one hand up with $**T and the other with hopes fulfilled, and see which hand fills up faster.
An ideology is by definition not a search for TRUTH-but a search for PROOF that its point of view is right
Equals barter and negotiate-people with power just take
You cant defend freedom by eliminating it-unknown
Our elected reps should wear sponsor patches on their suits so we know who they represent-like Nascar-Roy