No One Asked Me But… (April 17, 2024)

By DR. LARRY MOSES

No one asked me but… It is my understanding that the legislature of California passed a law that will not allow the purchase of any power produced by fossil fuels. However, the “save the earth fanatics” who scream and holler about coal-fired plants producing electricity and gas-powered vehicles give no viable replacement for them other than to turn Nevada into one giant solar farm.
The “tree huggers” champion wind power until they find the windmills kill birds. Have you ever had the pleasure of viewing the windmill farm on the road to Tehachapi, California? Now that is a real blight on nature.

These “crusader rabbits” champion solar power that will require large fields of solar panels that will cover acre after acre of natural terrain. These panels must surely be a hazard to the desert tortoise that environmentalists used to force Nevada ranchers off of BLM grazing lands.

Many of these pseudo-environmentalists live in homes large enough to house three average families and use the utilities on a scale that would scare most American homeowners. They fly around the country in their Gulfstream jets burning more fuel and sending more pollution in the air on one trip than one SUV driver does in a year.

Give me an environmentalist who walks everywhere, lives in a mud hut, wears hemp, and goes to bed when it gets dark; then I will believe he is a true champion of the cause.

These pseudo-environmentalist remind me of the TV preacher who laments the plight of the poor while he drives to the studio from his multi-million-dollar mansion in his hundred-thousand-dollar car.

As soon as someone comes up with an alternative fuel that is efficient and cost effective I will be the first to embrace it. Do I believe that it is possible? I sure do – just as soon as we make it a priority for the nation.

This reminds me of the completion of the electric highway from Carson City to Las Vegas. Nevada taxpayers funded electric charging stations across highway 95. However, at the time they found that their experimental all electric car could not make it from the charging station in Tonopah to Beatty. Therefore they towed it within range and drove it triumphantly into Beatty.

They also failed to mention that the electric charging station was powered by a deisel generator. It has been stated that 95% of all electric cars are still on the road. Only the remaining 5% were able to make it home.

If we as a country were to really decide to develop alternative energy sources, we could do so.
In 1960, President John F. Kennedy decided that we would put a man on the moon within the decade. Many people scoffed but with American ingenuity and determination it was done.

I understand this is the man on the moon cliché but the principle is the same. I can see homes with individual power units, some solar, some wind, and some from sources that have yet to be invented.
What if we were to develop a small generator fueled with the waste we take to the dump each week? If we turn the American genius lose on the problem we can surely solve it.
We can only hope that we have not aborted the child that held that mystery.

No one asked me but… I believe Americans are fundamentally good people. However, our mass media is intent on convincing us otherwise.
We get so inundated with news about the evil things that have happened from day to day that we forget these are apparitions and not activities of most Americans. If these events weren’t unusual, they would not be newsworthy.

The old newspaper adage is “Dog bites man is not news; but man bites dog is.”
One of the lessons I learned working with young people is generally they became what we expected them to become. If we are continually fed the propaganda that Americans are evil greedy people we will surely fulfill that prophecy. Perception will become the truth. I believe it is time for us to spend more energy conveying the goodness of America to the American people.

In the early 1800’s, Alexis de Tocqueville, a French nobleman, came to American to study democracy and he wrote the following:

I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers, and it was not there. I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her fertile fields and boundless forests, and it was not there. I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her rich mines and her vast world commerce, and it was not there. I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her public-school system, and it was not there. I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her democratic congress and her matchless constitution, and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.

The American people spend a greater percentage of their income on charity than any other people in the world. Syracuse University professor Arthur Brooks’ book, “Who Really Cares,” points out that Americans give more – not only totally, but on a percentage basis – than the citizens of any other country.

Mr. Brooks further states: “Individually, Americans give seven times more money than people in Germany and 14 times more than Italians give. We also volunteer more. America is a uniquely charitable country.”

Locally groups like Rotary, the Chamber of Commerce, Brooke’s Good Deeds, Salvation Army and many others are involved in helping individuals in this community. There are individuals who continually give and seek no recognition for their generosity. Whenever an emergency arises in our communities, it is met by people volunteering time and money to overcome that emergency.

I believe de Tocqueville was correct when he said that as long as America remains good it will remain great. I reject the popular characterization of the American government and the American people as greedy, non-caring, and evil.
I am proud to be an American and refuse to apologize for our goodness or our greatness.

Thought for the week… “I find television very educational. The minute somebody turns it on, I go to the library and read a book.”
— Groucho Marx