My 10 Minutes in Politics: Explaining Why the U.S. Proudly Supports Chile’s Efforts in Solar Photovoltaics

Here’s another reason I couldn’t last 10 minutes in Washington: I wouldn’t be able to find the words to express why the United States should use its financial resources, a huge percentage of which are tied up in war machinery, to support Chile’s efforts in solar PV.

In my first minute, someone would ask me, “So you’re saying that renewable energy brings jobs to local communities, positions the country for economic success in the 21st Century, and enables the country to take the moral high-ground in international relations — but you’d rather support it in Chile than here at home?”

Then, in this nightmarish but perfectly plausible scenario, it would get even worse: “Apparently,” my tormentor would challenge, “you’re seriously suggesting that the U.S. tax-payer should support Chile in its efforts, while here, stateside, they subsidize Big Oil to the tune of tens of billions of dollars per year.  You’re a part of the machine that makes Congressional support of photovoltaics and other forms of renewable energy wax and wane like the phases of the moon, causing investors to stay as far away from the subject as they can possibly get?  Can you speak to that?”

Obviously, there are glib politicians who eat this stuff for breakfast.  Maybe they’d seen this coming a mile away, or maybe their obfuscation skills are so finely tuned that they just don’t care who accuses them of what.  They’d soon be grinning like fools and responding to the effect that the children are our future, or America’s greatest days lie before us, or any number of other non-sequiturs that voters here absolutely love.

I wouldn’t be able to do that–and I don’t mean morally, but rather physically.  “Brstrght.  Strike that.  Grrissp,” I’d stammer, having turned as bright red as the Chilean coat of arms (pictured above).  “That’s a GREAT question,” I’d mutter, gasping for breath, sweating like a rotund Chilean tapir (pictured right).  “I’ll get back to you on that one.”

And I’d be gone nine minutes later.