What’s Really Going On?

The subject today is both ‘future’ and ‘oil’. It could also be ‘immigration reform.’

I’ve chosen these topics because the press reports are divergent. For example, Exxon is reported to be focusing on oil rather than alternative energy sources. Their position is that oil as an energy source is present, in large supply, and still has more supplies to be discovered and recovered to fuel the planet’s energy needs going forward for many years. I’ll give them that factual basis, but what the global community ought to do for the long-term, is a totally different thing.

Alternative energy is needed for many reasons. Most of all it is healthy for all living creatures, including humans. Second, it is renewable and thus infinite in supply. Third, it is geopolitically neutral; no region or nation controls the resources. Fourth, it is self-conserving; consumers use what is readily at hand and use less when less is available (solar and battery interdependency). Fifth, it is most likely cheaper in the long run than oil, oil clean-up of all forms of pollution, and replacement and maintenance of infrastructure.

Alternative energy sources will benefit from reduced demand by appliances of new technology. They sip energy rather than gulp electric current. Battery technology is advancing quickly and will likely revolutionize the automotive industry. This will also simplify delivery of energy to the site of use without costly power grids. The latter will likely remain for major consumption industries and public utilities such as heating, lighting and air conditioning. Even these will change with technology as power demand lessens with increased efficiency.

And, let us not forget changing cultures. We are on the way to eliminate many cars on the roads. Less car ownership, more ride sharing, more walking, and less private transportation in favor of public modes.  These shifts will reduce demand on our current energy supply and demand modalities.

So, Exxon’s focus on oil is actually self-preservation and self-serving. Better for all of us if they focused on what the global population needs – non-polluting, cheaper energy forms that are renewable and more flexibly delivered. That is the future. They ignore it at their own peril. They are not in the oil business but in the energy business.

Immigration reform has been a need for several decades. It could have been simpler to repair and maintain had we done so way back, and then kept current. But no; politicians got involved and used the issue as a political football to gain power and influence. Meanwhile, millions of people were hurt (some lost their lives) and a huge waste of human potential has become a burden on our society.

Perhaps most important, America’s brand, reputation and soul have been lost in this issue.

We are an immigrant nation. All of us. These are our roots. All of us in massive diversity created this nation and push its future ever onward still. We do not do this alone. We do this as a whole people. The system actually requires diversity and a constant inflow of immigrants.

Rather than building a wall, we should be welcoming new citizens to our land. We should be helping them acclimate to our culture, and share their culture at the same time. Their ideas and talents, skills and art forms are needed here.

The White House is not the source of power over immigration; Congress is. So lay this issue where it belongs. Stop the fake positioning, and solve the problem.

What’s really going on in America is a political game that is dishonest at its very core. The future belongs to all of us and we play the most important role in it. We do the work that is the future. We think the ideas that becomes the future. We embrace the good and workable.

We should not be pawns to be played in a power game. Tell congress to get to work and do the work we sent them there to do. Silence the white house misinformation and get back to work.

Our future is better than theirs. Let’s make that evident. November is rapidly approaching.

June 18, 2018