What’s Behind America’s Pitiful Abdication of World Financial Leadership?

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s clarity of viewpoint, not to mention writing style, is quite impressive. In this short masterpiece, Big Carbon’s Sock Puppets Declare War on America and the Planet, he correctly identifies the issues that lie at the core of America’s pitiful abdication of world financial leadership.

Kennedy begins: “It’s now become de rigueur among the radical right wing rhetoricians to characterize any government support of America’s green energy sector as wasteful, fruitless, and scandalous.” He goes on to document examples of these groups’ launching and orchestrating “a series of attacks against the renewables sector by trying to discredit (certain) companies, even those that are driving America forward with innovative solutions that actually do compete on a global basis.”

The irony of all this lies in his belief, which I share, that this behavior is not at all aligned with the national interest; in fact, it’s decidedly anti-American. It is driven essentially by corruption, i.e., the effect of the enormous wealth and power of the fossil fuel and nuclear industry on government, while leaving the U.S. uncompetitive in clean energy, which is clearly becoming a critically important arena in 21st Century global commerce. It’s pretty shameful stuff.

My hat’s off to Kennedy for the acuity of his insights, and for the force of his courage in laying them on the table.