PP's frustration over the problems of the Big Stone II electrical plant presents a fine example of the difficulties in developing a sound energy policy. There are competing interests, what political science geeks sometimes call "cross cutting cleavages," that make it impossible to please everyone, or even most people, when it comes to energy. We want our energy to be both clean and cheap. The problem is the cheap energy, such as that produced from coal, tends to be dirtier, or, put another way, the clean energy, such as solar or wind, tends to be expensive on a per-megawatt basis. Similarly, we want to subsidize ethanol so we are less dependent on foreign oil and to provide an economic boost to rural America, but that creates an incentive to turn land from conservation to corn production, bad for our hunters and bad for our tourist economy.
Frustratingly, we cannot have it both ways. We cannot have cheap energy and clean energy, at least not for the foreseeable future. Just like we can't complain about the size of government, and then go to Washington begging for money for our pet projects. Yesterday I offered a bunch of Harry Jaffa quotes on Lincoln and statesmanship. Jaffa notes that one of the seminal lessons one learns from Lincoln is that the statesman's role is to say "no" to the people. For example, "No, you cannot have slaves, even if the majority of you really want them." We 21st Century Americans have a hard time saying "no" to ourselves, and there is no statesman asking us to.
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