Friday, August 19, 2011

American Exceptional-ism


I hear people all over the country talking about American exceptional-ism. How the United States is supposed to be the shining example of what all other nations should strive to be. As much as I would like to agree with these people, there are too many things I see which cause me to question how exceptional our country is right now.

Japan is getting 90% efficiency from their energy grid, Germany is getting 85 % efficiency while the United states has a 50 year old power grid and an efficiency rating of about 35%. That means that for every ton of coal we burn we only capture 35% of the available power released from that coal. That is so wasteful it's not even funny when the technology is there to make our grid much more efficient.

I look at China and France with their high speed rail systems which travel 200 or 300 mph and then compare them to our nonexistent high speed rail system. America is the country that invented the cross country rail system, and now there are several countries who's rail systems make ours look like a joke. A good high speed rail system could reduce American dependence on oil and other fossil fuels, it could more efficiently move people and goods from place to place at a reduced overall cost.

I look at our education system that ranks well below many other industrialised nations. Our children are as the saying goes, the future of our country. We should be doing everything we can to improve our education system at every level and in every school. This should be one of our highest national concerns. I just don't understand anyone not wanting our public school system to be the very best in the world.

Our highways and bridges are crumbling away and nothing is being done about it, but that's ok because unless we start really working on reducing our dependence on fossil fuels, no one will be able to afford to drive on the roads any ways. There are countries in Europe that have cars that get more than 50 mpg and heading towards 80 mpg. Our country has just set new fuel efficiency standards that will bring us in line with Europe's current fuel standards in 15 years.

We have so many things in our country that are in dire need of attention that it's frightening. Mean while we have a government that can't stop arguing enough to realise that the people are getting fed up with the nonsense.

We desperately need a real government works project that will rebuild not only our infrastructure, but also our economy. If the government would just grow up and stop trying to pull each other down, then maybe they will figure out that right now, there is nothing else that is going to fix the United States. If they don't, then I fear for the country I love.