Why
this proposal at this time?
- It is something about which I have felt very strongly
for a long time. And I am now well beyond the age of maturity. Time
is getting short, for me and for the country.
- Its origins were in 1973, when I conceived of its
precursor as the first modern energy crisis hit. I became very passionate
about it, writing to every member of Congress and to many levels of
the administration, testifying on it before the late great Senator William
Proxmire and his joint economic committee and many others. The policy
had a considerable setback when President Jimmy Carter introduced it
as his Wellhead Tax. However, its implementation and consequences had
not been well thought out or presented, and it died a quick death. (Senator
Proxmire was concerned about the inflation aspects, and I had not thought
out the necessary modifications then.) An early version, without some
essential components, was adopted by Greenpeace Germany and promoted
quite vigorously. Without the essential improvements the program was
flawed and was not adopted.
- No one seems to have a workable policy covering these
areas.
- In particular, the Democratic Party seems to have
no policy of its own. I'm an independent, not a Democrat, but I'd like
to see the policy adopted by the Democrats. Its tax-plus-rebate attributes
would make it anathema to the Republicans, although a couple of Republican
magazines published early versions of the policy.
- This policy happens also to do something relatively
gentle to illegal aliens, and something more dramatic to help American
poor people. The increasing imbalance between the extraordinarily rich
and the poor cries out for action.
- Above all, the policy would give powerful incentives
to everyone to do something about energy wastage and pollutant emissions,
and it would quickly make the US the world leader in these areas. It
would stimulate business and employment at every level.
In summer 2006 I decided that I needed to do something
sensible about the policy, and retained a delightful political consultant,
Dorie Clark, who was Howard Dean's media person (and who recently headed
the Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition. My family and I are bicyclists.)
She came to a recent meeting of supporters of the policy at MIT, and all
strongly recommended that I send it to as many influential people as possible
to elicit feedback. The first person to whom I sent it asked me to put
it on a website so that he could let others know about it. Dorie Clark
would also like me to get a "white paper" written to explain
all the effects of the proposals to politicians. (If anyone would like
to volunteer to help, please write!)
After a long life involving much service on commissions
and testifying before them I have observed a certain reluctance among
policy-makers and economists to give serious attention to policies recommended
by scientists and engineers. Consequently I have nailed my colors to the
mast by writing these recommendations from an engineer's viewpoint, somewhat
tongue-in-cheek.
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