As our nation enjoys its “Independence Day” it is worth reflecting on the specific notion of Independence vs Dependence.
Our nation enjoys the leading position among nations of the 21st Century. And in most ways we feel as if we are generally independent of other nations – we can chart our own course and in fact lead or influence much of the direction of other nations . For many decades this ability to lead rested not only with our military strength but also with our nations financial strength, our intellectual strength, our production strength. Unfortunately many of these competitive advantages are slipping. The nation is clearly unique in our military might, but in other areas we see competitive people from other nations pushing – working hard – to control the future of global manufacturing and finance.
With respect to the commodity – energy – needed to power a modern economy – our nation is by no means independent. We are in fact dependent on a small group of nations that more or less hate our country and our way of life. This is no way for our nation to go on.
Energy independence – clean energy – should be the battle cry of our generation. The advantages of being able to stop sending our sons and daughters (our soldiers) and our dollars over seas to fight for safe oil supplies is clear. The importance of being able to move to clean energy in order to slow the process of global climate change is critical for survival.
There is much to do.
Just as our forefathers demanded and ultimately fought for political independence, we must equally demand of our government and ourselves that we more towards energy independence.
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