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I’ve decided I really enjoy reading Tom Friedman’s editorials. He’s got a vision to improve the country that one-ups most of the other columnists, who tend to just sit and gripe. While I don’t agree with everything, I really think he’s hit on something with his proposals for an energy-conservation plan:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/13/opinion/13friedman.html

Why doesn’t the current administration give even a head-nod these days to policies that will take us more than just few years down the road? Do they have any concern for the next few generations? Sadly the only explanation that I can think of is that power corrupts, and the ability to use force is often employed because it’s available and easy. While I’m not optimistic for change, I pray that the president decides to shun the foreign policies and mindsets of his first term and think along different, more far-reaching, more visionary lines. To employ a biblical reference, “Without a vision, the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18a, KJV). I pray that the president will see with clear eyes what really motivates people and regimes to change, and that he would shape his policies and goals accordingly.

We have the intelligence and the technology to be at the vanguard of this movement. Instead of complaining that more and more high-tech jobs are going overseas and nagging the government to do something about it, let’s create some by embracing the next big shift in our way of life. But Detroit insists on cranking out more SUVs and Hemi-powered hot-rods. People ask me, as a “car guy,” what I think of the new Dodge Charger or the Pontiac GTO or the Hummer H2 (all over-testosteroned tire-shredders, and successful ones at that), and I tell them: The cars are just…stupid. Want to know the difference between an American car manufacturer and an overseas (namely, Japanese) one? Vision. American manufacturers think one, maybe two years down the road and cater to what the public wants now, now, now… Japanese firms have a vision for their company that extends five, ten, fifteen years out, anticipating energy crises and designing cars that are paragons of efficiency and technological innovation. The Accord Hybrid and Lexus RX400h, for example, are brilliant cars and I hope they sell in the millions. I think the stage is being set for another energy crisis on the scale of the one that occurred in the early ’70s, one that forces American manufacturers to rethink their product lines, and unfortunately this time we’re not ahead of the curve technologically, so we stand to lose even more domestic jobs than we did the last time around. And that’s not even considering the fact that the political stakes on the global scene are much higher…

What’s my solution? Not physical government intervention, not subsidies, not tax breaks or free parking spaces or special highway lanes, all of which worked great in California in getting a viable electric car to market (note: heavy sarcasm). No, none of that. Instead: Vision-casting, on the same level as Kennedy when he inspired our country to go to the moon. Leadership through influence, not coercion. If the administration talks about it, focuses on it, acknowledges it and inspires up-and-coming engineers and businesspeople to devote their resources to it, I think it will take off. That’s my hope and prayer, at least.

Kinda makes me wish I had majored in engineering instead of design. But I can still proslytize about it.

p.s. — And while I’m at it, I just might as well say: The main focus of hybrid cars is not fuel mileage, people! Get over it (speaking to car magazines here)! Yes, they’re more economical than an average car, much more so in the city when the gasoline engine shuts off, but the main point is low emissions. Low emissions. Repeat that to yourselves. All hybrids are classified as PZEVs, or Partial-Zero-Emissions-Vehicles, meaning that when the electric motor is running they emit nothing out the tailpipe. If you want fuel economy alone buy a diesel. As for me, I’ll take the best of both worlds and spring for a hybrid.

Okay. Must stop ranting.