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 emocrats
don't like to be called liberals, because that term has become associated
with higher taxes and lower
morality. So
they decided to call themselves progressives instead. But as the
nation's energy crisis spreads, it is clear that many Democratic
leaders are deathly afraid of progress. Having been captured by
the Luddite philosophy of the environmental extremists, they have
lost faith in American ingenuity and now fear further economic development.
The new Senate
Majority Leader Thomas Daschle (D., SD) revealed his phobias on
NBC's Meet the Press May 27. Host Tim Russert asked Daschle
"Over the next 20 years, U.S. energy demands will increase
by 62 percent for natural gas, 33 percent for oil and 45 percent
for electricity, according to estimates of the federal Energy Information
Administration. How do you get that, maintain this country as the
premiere economic power in the world, simply by conservation?"
Daschle answered, "Well, I wouldn't minimize conservation.
We're 5 percent of the world's population, we have 30 percent of
the world's energy demand. I think that's wrong. We ought to be
able to conserve more."
What seemed
lost on the senator is the reason Americans have such a high share
of the world's energy demand: We produce a high standard of living.
Does Daschle think this is "wrong?" We are also quite
capable of meeting that demand for energy. In contrast, low energy
demand is associated with underdevelopment and poverty in most of
the rest of the world. Is that what Daschle wants here?
The emphasis
on conservation has driven U.S. policy for the last two decades.
As a result, the United States is one of the most efficient users
of energy on the planet. According to the Paris-based OECD (whose
20 members include the leading European nations, plus Japan, Korea,
New Zealand, Canada, Mexico and the United States), America accounted
for 40 percent of the group's energy use in 1998. But the United
States did far more with that energy and got more value out of it
than any other country. For every $1 million of GDP produced here,
just 76 tons of oil-equivalent were needed. For the OECD as a whole,
the average was 151 tons.
Furthermore,
the amount of energy to produce $1 billion in GDP has fallen in
the United States by half since 1973. Yet, this very success of
conservation demonstrates that this cannot substitute for new energy
production. Its role has played out; and has done so in the very
state that has pushed conservation the most.
Among the 50
states, California uses the least energy per capita. It is also
the state where the energy crisis has hit the hardest. California's
attempt to substitute conservation for energy production made it
dependent on out-of-state energy sources. When the imbalance of
demand and supply pushed up prices, California was helpless. Democratic
governor Gray Davis has gone crying to Washington for salvation.
Green slogans cannot replace the need for a steady flow of cheap
energy. Bumper stickers make poor kindling.
Gov. Davis's
plea to President Bush for price controls on interstate wholesale
energy suppliers is itself an admission of conservation's failure.
Higher prices would induce more conservation if this were an easy
cure. Instead, Davis wants the federal government to hold down prices
so Californians can continue to consume. Conservation has crossed
the line from pursuing efficiency to "doing without" —
which is politically untenable.
One aspect
of American federalism is that states serve as "laboratories
of democracy" where different approaches to problems can be
tried. If successful, other states — and the federal government,
can adopt the new methods. But if a policy fails, as California's
has done so spectacularly, other states — and the federal government,
should pay heed and avoid making the same mistake.
Sen. Daschle's
fears prevent him from learning the lessons of experience. He also
expressed his misgivings of nuclear power, claiming, "I don't
think that this is the right time. Until we deal with how we're
going to confront the nuclear waste issue, Tim, I think it'd be
impossible for us to expand nuclear power." Yet, Japan and
France both use nuclear power to generate some 60 percent of their
electrical power. They seem to have solved their waste problems,
and so can the United States. Daschle lives in the country that
invented nuclear power, but he is so terrified of it that no solution
can calm him.
President Bill
Clinton used to talk about building a "bridge to the 21st century."
Sen. Daschle would be afraid to walk across such a bridge. He'd
see it as unsafe or as a threat to the environment. Daschle would
rather lead his party back to the 19th century (or perhaps the 18th)
where everything seems more cozy and safe.
Yet, the people
who lived in the past didn't think so. That is why they strived
so mightily to build and invent. The human hunger for progress is
far from satisfied. Sen. Daschle might ask the labor unions and
the working poor, whose votes sustain the Democratic party, if they
feel their material needs have all been met. Their answer could
split the party if Democratic leaders continue to give primacy to
the Green faction.
Teamsters President
James P. Hoffa enthusiastically endorsed President Bush´s
proposal to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling
at a White House meeting with Vice President Richard B. Cheney,
Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao, energy task-force members, and 17
other union leaders May 14.
"We like
a lot of things" about the energy plan, said Hoffa, "We
do believe we need more nuclear plants. We do believe we need more
refining capacity; we haven't been building refineries .... American
workers will be solving this problem; they will be building the
resources to refine and generate new energy." He cited a Wharton
Econometrics study predicting 700,000 jobs would be created nationwide
by Bush's plan, stimulus the economy needs to reverse the recent
slowdown.
The Greens
may want to take the country backwards, increasing poverty, and
limiting the opportunities for Americans to improve their lives;
but few will follow of their own volition. Sen. Daschle would be
wise to reconsider who he wants to lead, and where.
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