About November 2 | Green Energy News

October 31, 2004 – Vol.9 No.32

ABOUT NOVEMBER 2.

In a speech to the Urban Land Institute three days after the U.S. election former President Bill Clinton told Democrats not to whine about the loss at the polls.

He was somewhat critical of Democrats, saying that they failed to counter how Republicans portrayed them to rural and small-town voters.

He also noted that George Bush should use his second term to move the country toward an economy less dependent on foreign oil, a move that would shift the balance of power (back to the U.S.) from the Middle East.

There's a connection between rural towns and renewable energy that could move us away from foreign oil while bridging the political divide in America: Small town America tends to support green energy, particularly in the Midwest.

It is this editor’s experience, both first hand and from content in this publication, that the states who supported President Bush also tend to support renewable energy, actually embrace it as much, or perhaps even more than states that supported John Kerry.

Personal energy independence, business opportunities, a cleaner environment are all reasons renewables are popular in the conservative heartland. Examples? The Plains States are poised to become powerhouses of wind energy. Biodiesel and ethanol fuels are more common in red states than in blue.

Historically Liberals have claimed environmental topics - including clean, renewable and efficient energy - as their turf. Why don’t they make use of the common ground they have with some Conservatives to break a hole in the the rift that has developed between Right and Left?