Energy and the National Security State

James Woolsey, former CIA Director, gives a talk on Energy and National Security at the School for International and Advanced Studies.

During the Q&A somebody asks him about the safety of natural gas extraction and he scoffs at the idea that there's any danger.  Plus, he points out that a lot of people are against fracking on their land until they are approached by the energy companies and offered $50,000 a month for the right to drill on their property.  So he insists that one of the best things about fracking for natural gas is that it's going to make a lot of ordinary people rich.

He states a little earlier that solar, wind, geothermal and other forms of energy are wonderful, but they won't be able to replace fossil fuels for a long time.

Never does he address the fact that renewable technologies have been "under development" for as long or longer than natural gas extreme extraction.  He completely dismisses the suggestion that capital investment, such as the fossil fuel companies and the government have made in oil and natural gas, is what has made fracking economical enough for widespread commercial use.

Neither does he admit any suggestion that the military and the national intelligence networks have promoted capital intensive fossil fuels over alternatives.

A solar and wind-powered USA would be full of enterprising citizens free to develop projects, machines and businesses off the grid.  The central governments and the capital markets wouldn't be able to control the energy supply.

The marriage between the fossil fuel industry and the national security state will be a healthy one, as long as American consumers are dependent on fossil fuels.

If we had followed the Energy Plan President Carter initiated in 1977, we would be 25% powered by renewables now.  Those green technologies would be advancing far ahead of the extreme extraction technology.

The national security state has always been the bully for big capital.  Whether you're talking about the media, medicine, the military, the food industry, transportation, education, ... whatever ... big capital is writing the plans and Congress is going along without a peep.

The capitalists set up these other systems in this country to serve their needs, and until the people decide we want to run our own country, things are going to keep going along just the way they are.