The Schiller Institute and Nuclear Energy

I participate in a pro-nuclear energy group, that, unfortunately, thinks solar and wind are a waste of time and money.  Though I’ve been unable to convince them otherwise, I like to hang around and read about the events that are occurring in the nuclear world.

Here’s a letter from one of the members to the Schiller Institute, a derivative of the far-right LaRouche Movement, a group that appears to favor nuclear energy.

Dear Isa Martinez,

Steve Rendon seems like a nice person and the few talks we have had we found much common ground.  

I watched this morning’s presentations and was very disappointed. I did take some time to read former posts on your website.

What I don’t understand is how your organization or anyone can support Donald Trump.

Also to deny anthropogenic global warming is also a strange aberration.

Your group needs to separate politics from science.

Aligning yourself with Larouche and now his widow is problematic. There is just too much baggage.

I can only imagine to many on your team that separating yourself from Larouche PAC is somehow a cleaning up or necessary split. The legacy of Larouche will not go away. You need to reform much more or perhaps disband. 

I agree with some of the comments about how ineffective wind and solar are and that nuclear energy is the way to go.

I also agree that there does exist among some, especially those who live in the west, a desire to rid the earth of some of its population and you are right to condemn that. 

But there is something very corrupt about your group that has more interest in expanding its power and holding on to its funding than in sharing the truth.

American politics has become a volatile mess that seems to satisfy those who hope for a world order to take us out of this mess. 

Unfortunately Schiller is very misguided to imagine their group is the chosen one to lead that battle.

There are many contradictions in the literature and supposed scientific evidence.

For example, your saying with certainty that nuclear fusion would be what will save us. Clearly that was misguided.

If you as an organization can make such drastic mistakes why would you carry on with the confidence your current beliefs are correct?

The Schiller group’s contempt for those on the current progressive left obviously is so great that you would rather support a corrupt group with little else going for them than opposing the Democrats. 

The Republicans consistently demonstrate poor judgement and they contradict your supposed beliefs. Choosing to spread the idea that vaccines are somehow a conspiracy is by its nature Malthusian.

Your history is riddled with changes of heart and choosing fringe science as correct. The actions by the Republicans under Bush and now Trump demonstrate that a group’s politics can be a destabilizing force.

That falls perfectly into the hands of those countries that would like to see the US crumble and become dependent on Russia and China. 

I can’t support or join your group. I am sorry to say.

Rick Maltese, Founder of The Energy Reality Project

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Rick:  What you say here is entirely correct.  This is a cult rooted in right-wing, paranoid extremism that thinks Trump is an honorable person and true patriot.  That this particular cult happens to support your brand of energy doesn’t change the fact that these people are simply insane.

For some reason, the John Birch Societies of the world have always adored nuclear power.  I recall walking through an airport in the 1970s and being approach by a preppy with a plaid jacket and polka-dot tie who asked me, “Did you know that more people died in Ted Kennedy’s car than have every been killed in nuclear accidents?”

You ask: “If you as an organization can make such drastic mistakes why would you carry on with the confidence your current beliefs are correct?” Oh, I don’t know.  Maybe because they’re lunatics?

It’s interesting that fringe groups like this tend to have entrenched beliefs surrounding energy.  QAnon’s position is that “free energy” is being suppressed by the horrible people in government who happen to understand basic thermodynamics.

Ironically, the German/British philosopher F.C.S. Schiller, from whom the group takes its name, made great contributions to his field; he had some extremely powerful ideas that were not too dissimilar from those of American pragmatists William James, John Dewey, and Charles S. Peirce.

Be this as it may, I urge you to do yourself a favor and stay far away from these sociopaths.