At 2GreenEnergy, we talk a great deal about the incredible transition in the politics of the Republican party of the United States.

When I was growing up in the 1960s, Republicans were actually fairly sane people.  Nobody was trying to suppress voting, rejecting science, or declaring the Democrats were communists.

The meme here provides a good example of what I meme.

The Republicans Squirt to the Right

From a reader:  Okay… confession: I only physically read about a quarter of it.

I’ll make an even greater confession: I read “Atlas Shrugged” and “The Fountainhead” back-to-back when I was a teenager, and they meant a great deal to me at the time.

It was a couple of decades later that I realized that “the virtue of selfishness,” as Rand described her philosophy, is a horrible basis on which to build a society. Fortunately, there isn’t a nation on Earth where everything is privatized: roads, tunnels, bridges, airports, law enforcement, criminal justice, disaster relief, libraries, national defense, bank deposit insurance, emergency healthcare, food safety, etc.

Moreover, hoping that rich and selfish people will restrain themselves from ruining the environment is a joke.

Ayn Rand and the Virtue of Selfishness

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act (AFIDA) is critical legislation to protect U.S. national security. Given the ever-evolving threat environment, we support the effort to update and improve AFIDA to better protect the security of American agricultural land. 

USDA’s current proposed rule significantly expands AFIDA in ways that could ultimately create more burdens for energy security than protections for national security.

We submitted a comment letter proposing multiple adjustments to the proposed rule that could prevent potential slowdowns in the deployment of solar power and the building of pipelines. We also propose adjustments that prioritize submissions from foreign adversaries and Foreign Adversary Controlled Entities, giving appropriate emphasis to valid national security risks without unduly sacrificing the timeliness and effectiveness of the data collection AFIDA mandates. 

We look forward to working with the USDA and our partners across the energy sector on an appropriate path forward to address national security concerns presented by foreign ownership of American agricultural land while considering the need for the development of affordable, reliable, and secure energy infrastructure.

###

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’s membership includes clean energy investors, developers, energy buyers, power generators, manufacturers, and energy providers. In 2024, nearly 80% of the booming utility-scale domestic clean energy growth was financed, developed, owned, equipped, or contracted by ACORE members. For more information, visit www.acore.org. 

Media Contacts:

Chris Higginbotham 
VP, Communications
higginbotham@acore.org  

The post Statement on USDA Proposed Updates to the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act from ACORE President and CEO Ray Long  appeared first on ACORE.

https://acore.org/news/statement-on-usda-proposed-updates-to-the-agricultural-foreign-investment-disclosure-act-from-acore-president-and-ceo-ray-long/