The clever meme here depicts a harsh reality of life in the U.S. There are groups, heavily funded by billionaires, whose aims are to convince congress to dismantle all aspects of the federal government that serve the common American.
I’m reminded of Charles Koch, who, when asked what he regarded to be “fair” regarding taxation, replied, “I get to keep my money.” Not much nuance there. No recognition that this man, worth many billions of dollars, lives in a society that needs infrastructure, national defense, public education, etc. When I heard these words come out of his mouth, I said, “All you’re saying is that you’re a swine.”
OK, so exactly how much real “thought” exists in these so-called “think tanks?” For a chapter on the subject for my third book, “Renewable Energy–Following the Money,” I interviewed a spokesperson for the right-wing Cato Institute, and focused the discussion on his organization’s approach to climate change.
Frankly, I found their position to be shockingly indefensible. It included ideas like, “The most devastating effects of climate change lie decades in the future, so, we recommend delaying mitigation tactics until that time.”
I’m generally very noncombative when I conduct interviews, but I could help responding, “Oh, but that’s like having an oncologist tell a cigarette smoker that the patient has lung cancer, but since the disease is unlikely to kill him in the next ten years, it’s OK to continue to smoke until the cancer has ravaged his body. I don’t think that doctor would be practicing medicine much longer.”
Efforts to invest in a future of things like quality education and environmental sustainability are met with pseudoscientific attacks from institutes with high-sounding names, all to protect the rich from paying taxes.
There is a limit to which this can be taken before the United States becomes a cesspool of ignorance and toxic chemicals, and fades into irrelevance on the global stage.
I subscribe to a social media feed called “I Love Old Homes” because I have an appreciation for the history of architecture, especially that which was built in what is now the United States between the late 17th Century and the 1930s. At the risk of coming off as weird, I try to picture myself living in some of these places, and some of these daydreams are quite pleasant indeed.
At left, we see something from the “beaux arts movement” in the Gilded Age of the late 19th Century that I find abhorrent. In its essence, it says that I have disdain for those less fortunate.
You don’t have a fireplace to keep you warm as you walk up one of your many staircases? What a tragedy.
We live in times when 1.5 billion people can’t get a glass of clean water and you want to live like this? You don’t care that the planet we live on is becoming more inhospitable with each passing year, as long as you can live in the most extreme upper end of luxury? There are rooms in your house that you’ve never even stepped in? Some that you can’t actually find?
Apparently this works for some, but not for me.
Renewable Energy
ACORE Statement on Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act Substitute Amendment from President and CEO Ray Long
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Policy -
Press Releases
ACORE Statement on Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act Substitute Amendment from President and CEO Ray Long
WASHINGTON, D.C. — ACORE supports the Senate negotiators’ agreed-upon Substitute Amendment for the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act (BAAJA), and we urge swift passage of the bill.
This Substitute Amendment represents corrections and clarifications that maintain the bill’s goals — to fix our woefully broken permitting system. The Amendment specifically improves the transmission provisions, allowing us to make much-needed upgrades to our grid so we can build more clean energy.
This bill will help to put downward pressure on energy prices, improve our electricity reliability, and ensure we have enough power to keep the lights on for families and factories. The status quo of high power prices and anticipated energy shortages is unacceptable. This bill will streamline the build-out of our power infrastructure. The time is now.
Let’s get this bill passed and start building.
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About ACORE
ACORE is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that operates at the intersection of affordability, reliability, and clean energy deployment. Our work is focused on stabilizing energy prices, strengthening the electric grid, and driving investment in cost-effective technologies to ensure that clean energy delivers for people, businesses, and the U.S. economy.
ACORE convenes a membership spanning the full clean energy value chain—investors and financiers, developers and EPCs, hyperscalers and energy buyers, manufacturers and advisors. Our members were directly involved in more than 80% of the American clean energy infrastructure projects added to the grid in 2025. We champion all clean energy technologies including transmission, solar, wind, storage, geothermal, hydropower, nuclear, and beyond. ACORE members are the companies investing in and building tomorrow’s electric power system, accelerating infrastructure development, strengthening grid reliability, and enhancing domestic competitiveness.
Media Contacts:
Tamari Palmer
Associate, Communications
palmer@acore.org
Chris Higginbotham
VP, Communications
higginbotham@acore.org
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https://acore.org/news/acore-statement-on-bipartisan-american-affordability-and-jobs-act-substitute-amendment-from-president-and-ceo-ray-long/
A friend from Texas writes: It’s been an interesting week! A lot to reflect on. And Texas seems to be the epicenter. Folks are pretty flabbergasted over the defeat of all statewide Republican candidates (including state supreme court justices) and the election of a Democratic party-controlled state house.
Yes, Texas blew everyone’s mind. I think what the GOP experienced was a double-whammy if you will.
Consumer prices are high, due at least in part to Trump’s inane and illegal war in Iran. This is impacting the lives of working class Americans.
and
I’m pleased to be able to report that many people still have a conscience, which causes them to reject the GOP’s cruelty, dishonesty, dismissal of science, and criminality.
What We Love About Old Homes Tells Us About Ourselves
ACORE Statement on Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act Substitute Amendment from President and CEO Ray Long
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