The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways.

That is the official name of the familiar roads we know as I-10, I-95, I-5, etc.

The Intestate part is obvious, but why “defense highways”?

The story boils down to the vision and efforts of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

In 1919, Lieutenant Colonel Eisenhower was part of an army convoy that crossed the country from Washington, D.C. to San Francisco.  The 81 vehicles took 62 days to cross the country at an average speed of 6 miles per hour.

After his stint as Supreme Allied Commander in WWII, and having seen the Autobahns in Germany, Eisenhower became convinced that it was imperative for the United States to build a high speed highway system to move materiel and troops in time of war.

The Interstate Highway System had other major benefits, changing the social and commercial fabric of the country.  America became a mobile culture.

How was the $129 Billion highway system paid for?  Through gasoline taxes.  At the time it was proposed, some of the critics called it a “socialistic scheme to transfer the cost of providing deluxe highways from those most benefited to the already heavily burdened landowner.”

Sound familiar?  Are there many around today who still bemoan the interstates as a socialistic scheme?

Now the parallel with the proposed alternative energy economic stimulus strategy being contemplated by the incoming Obama administration.

Endependence thinks a great case can be made to promote spending on alternative energy infrastructure as a matter of national defense.  We need to insulate ourselves from the spikes in the cost of fossil fuel energy and their toxic effects on the environment.  America should become the world leader in harvesting and using renewable energy.

We can pay for it with a gasoline tax, or a carbon tax.

A suggestion for a name for this move toward energy independence that ends dependence on polluting fuels:

The Barack Obama Interstate Alternative Energy Defense Network.

Here is the link to an article about the Interstate Highway system:

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2006/summer/interstates.html

Green jobs and energy independence in the rebounding economy.

The 44th President of the United States is taking office at a time when critical decisions about the future of our economy will have to be made rapidly and accurately.  There is little margin for error.

One of the things we heard during the campaign was a push for “Green” jobs.

President Obama can stimulate the economy by making the obvious connections between short term economic stimulus combined with energy conservation, mid term alternative energy subsidies and long term planning to make the country energy independent.

The economy is in dire straits due to the housing bubble pop.  Now that pop has triggered a crisis in the automotive industry.  So we have a built infrastructure (stationary) problem and a transportation (mobile) sector problem.

Our energy challenges break into two segments: stationary and mobile.

The overarching message of Obama’s green economy push could be:

“We should use our economic stimulus dollars to solve two problems at once, get the economy going again and move our country toward energy independence.

In the short term, we will use federal money to help our automobile companies build energy efficient cars.  We will also provide funding for the construction industry to improve the energy efficiency of  buildings, both residential and commercial, throughout the country. (As far as I can tell from Census Data, in 2006 Automotive Manufacturing accounted for .7% of GDP and Construction accounted for 4.8% of GDP).   This will keep automobile workers and auto dealership employees on the job and help to revive the incredibly important construction industry.

In the mid term, we will subsidize alternative energy technologies funded in part by a cap and trade greenhouse gas program.

On the strategic long term planning level, the government will establish a “Manhattan Project” to chart an energy independence road map that ends our dependence on non-renewable energy.

These moves will put American on a path to short term economic recovery while assuring our long term ability to maintain our standard of living sustainably.

We cannot do this without everyone pitching in to help.  As a nation, we must dedicate ourselves to making the sacrifices and tough choices that will allow us to pass a livable world on to future generations.”

Here is a great video by Shell Oil which shows the importance of charting a course for our energy future instead of following our current haphazard scheme.

http://www.shell.com/home/content/aboutshell/our_strategy/shell_global_scenarios/
scenarios_videos/video_2/

How about starting a war for “endependence” = energy independence that ends dependence on polluting fuels.