Why We Advocate

An anecdote, to start with…

A colleague, on a recent visit to Washington DC, found himself in conversation with a recently retired, well-known and -respected U.S. senator.  He took the opportunity to ask him what it would take for a congressman to vote for an issue that he knew in his heart was right for the country and the planet, irrespective of partisan attachments and personal considerations.  The retired senator (whom, in order not to betray a trust, we will not name, but who is known as a strong supporter of energy independence) replied that only when the congressman no longer needed an influx of money, e.g., after he had decided not to run for office again, might this happen.  Until then he would always vote in accordance with his source of funding, working hard to produce whatever arguments were needed to justify his vote.

Lamentably, the above is probably not particularly surprising to readers.  The pernicious influence of ‘big money’ in politics (one would say ‘campaigns’ except that campaigns seem to be a permanent condition of politics today) is well known, but it’s sobering to hear a veteran legislator sympathetic to renewable energy confirm, in effect, that until our industry can throw money at his former colleagues with as much abandon as does the fossil fuel industry, then that latter industry can absolutely count on congressional votes in its favor.  What works for the country, what is needed for the health of the planet, what can revitalize American jobs and create new industries here will always lose out to the demands of the campaign chest.

Unless… (more…)