Obama

CAFE Standards

By Sanchez / Tennis|2017-01-13T11:29:08-07:00September 20th, 2009|Tags: CAFE, climate, energy, environment, fuel efficiency, mileage, Obama, sustainability|

I’m pleased to see the Obama administration proposing large increases in fleet fuel efficiency standards. In my mind, we’ve squandered nearly thirty years of potential economic efficiency and national security through egregious foot-dragging by hidebound Detroit executives and a dangerously near-sighted Congress. 35 miles per gallon would be easy to reach, if not already the norm, if we had simply stayed the course we began on in the late 1980’s, on the heels of the first gas crisis.

Now, with nearly insurmountable climate effects added to the drag on our economy and risks to our security associated with dependence on far too much foreign oil, we have to bite the bullet and get on with it. As usual, it’s a case of “Pay me now or pay me later”, and many of those who scream about our “drastic” intervention in the market are the same pundits who opposed sensible, gradual improvements when they could have been far more painless.

At this point, Detroit, the Pentagon, and ardent environmentalists all agree that this move to greatly increase CAFE standards is essential. Let’s just accept the fact that the bill has come due for three decades of self-delusion about the urgency of the energy efficiency crisis, raise the standards, and get on the rest of the challenges facing our country.

Is U.S. healthcare debate solely about politics…or something else?

By Sanchez / Tennis|2017-01-13T11:29:16-07:00September 20th, 2009|Tags: brain research, climate change, culture, Euro-American, healthcare, Obama, Organization Development, polarity, Politics, progressive, racism, status|

I was recently asked that question, and having just come from a really stimulating presentation on recent insights about the brain (Thanks to Ginny Storj0hann), here’s what I’m thinking today about the emotional content of our national health care conversation.

The current phenomenon of healthcare debate seems to me to be made up of several overlapping and interacting elements, some of which are explained by brain-based change research, U.S. culture and political maneuvering:

1. Fearful reaction to having a Black President and all the changes in status that implies for a great many people (If People of Color are going to take real leadership positions, then the old order in which Whites, no matter what their position in the world, were always socially superior, is shifting).

2. A strong sense that the world is changing in ways that are unpredictable, uncontrollable, and potentially painful.

3. Fear that the government (or any other source of identifiable authority) will dictate important aspects of our lives at a time when many are feeling especially powerless

4. “Katie bar the door” polarity thinking that believes that any cooperation or compromise foretells eventual utter defeat

5. A U.S. cultural bias, rooted in our majority Euro-American heritage, toward individuality that leads many to be innately suspicious of new programs for collective assistance, believing that we are morally responsible to take care of ourselves, rather than falling back on help from others to meet our needs.

6. A resurgence in the long pattern of cynical and historically successful race-baiting and commie-calling by political operatives that oppose progressive change and loss of profiteering freedom.

All of these elements, and more, are weaving together to greatly intensify the natural debate on this complex topic. I think this is likely predictive of the reactions we will face as we confront many more big challenges, such as global climate change, economic restructuring, population shifts, etc. I’m not looking forward to the arguments, invective, and panic behavior we may experience, but it does seem like part of the process of hospicing the old ways and midwifing the new.

Myself, I’m hoping to stay centered on my belief that humans can find our way to ingenious collaborative solutions that will take us beyond the turmoil of these “interesting times” and into a new, more sustainable pattern of living on Earth and with each other.