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Okay, I have to be honest. I went in depth to research John McCain's environmental policy and was quickly thwarted by his website, which played a commercial over and over again until I wanted to throw my computer against a wall. I was swayed only by the fact that I need to keep the computer intact in order to get a tax credit.
But back to the point. John McCain, contrary to popular belief, DOES have a policy on the environment. Unlike most Republicans, John McCain has been staunch in his acceptance of the theory of global climate change, and embraces the notion -- and you can tell this bothers me for a reason I'll talk about in a second -- that government and not private enterprise should take responsibility in encouraging environmental stewardship. And yes, the reason I don't like that has nothing to do with my feelings on global climate change, but rather with my views on whether we should ever rely on government to set the standard for anything. But thats another post for another day. Right now, we're talking John McCain.
For McCain, environmental policy is inextricably linked to energy policy. According to McCain, it is absolutely necessary to lift the ban on offshore drilling and drilling in protected areas of the continental United States. Sure, while this would not produce a marked effect immediately, drilling for oil in places we've refused to drill for decades (thus impairing our ability to produce crude oil for ourselves and increasing our reliance on foreign oil that generally comes from less-than-sympathetic regions) would decrease the price of oil over time, and in twenty years or so -- if we're still lumbering around in fossil fuel vehicles instead of, say, flying cars -- would produce a workable, domestic source of that fuel.
But, of course, according to McCain, those flying cars shouldn't be reliant on fossil fuels at all. John McCain, in his energy platform, calls for American automakers to embrace a Clean Car standard, offering up to a $5K tax credit for each customer who purchases a green vehicle. A $300 million dollar prize would go to an automaker who could produce the the first full commercial development of a hybrid fuel-cell vehicle -- or any vehicle which "leapfrogs" into the automotive future. He's also willing to embrace and enforce increased CAFE (fuel emission standards), support the production of flex-fuel vehicles.
One thing I do like about John McCain's energy and environmental policy is that it supports workable alternative fuels. Lets face it, we can pump all sorts of cash into solar energy, wind power and the variety of high-cost, low-output alternatives to fossil fuel that we want -- the market will never support them until they are cheaper and more efficient to use than current options. Wind power and solar power initiatives, while adorable and easily marketable options that sell well to environmentally conscious grade-schoolers, will likely never produce enough energy to justify their high cost. In other words, if we chose to support these initiatives with our tax dollars, we'd be barking up the wrong tree. John McCain, instead, has said that he will support those alternative energy sources that hold real promise -- those energy sources that are already rising to the top in the commercial markets and those energy sources that have a real future in American life.
These aren't random sources. They include alternative vehicle fuels made from alcohol bases, clean coal technology (efficient technology which could be possible in the next several years with the correct encouragement), and most of all, nuclear power. While he'd still pressure the market to embrace wind and solar technologies, he recognizes that if these technologies turn out to be unworkable, as many think, he would discontinue support in favor of solutions that the market supports. In addition, McCain would pledge a permanent tax credit for companies seeking out alternative fuels -- a tax credit which would be equal to the wages of the entire research and development department for each company.
Sure, green jobs are very important, but McCain recognizes that merely funding something and subsidizing an industry does not guarantee that industry's long-term survival. Mere "creation" of jobs out of thin air, funded completely by the government and therefore into eternity, would do little except provide employment to a new generation of government hacks, content to while away the hours in a dank laboratory and collect their pension checks at the end of their tenure. To truly move into the future, private
