Service Forum: Win, Lose or Draw

Possibly the most influential man of the night was the man in the advertising for the Pickens Plan, T. Boone Pickens himself. When it's all said and done, he estimates to spend around $58,000,000 of his $3 billion fortune on his multi-media campaign promoting his energy plan. The plan extols the use of natural gas, which can be produced domestically, in vehicles as a less-expensive stop-gap measure, while we catch up on the energy technology and infrastructure needed to begin taking advantage of renewable sources of energy. This shift of our use of natural gas, from electricity production to vehicles, would decrease our dependence on foreign oil by millions of barrels per year. His self-funded campaign is a perfect example of democratic capitalism at it's best. An individual using his own money to promote the solution to a serious problem, without having to bow to or cater to and special interest group whatsoever, gives his plan more of a chance to be implemented. More so than any proposed energy plan from either side of the the political battlefield, because of the intrinsic partisan bickering that will surely take place when Congress seriously decides to do something about it than make speeches.

And now it looks as though he’s found his running mate. Aubrey K. McClendon, CEO of Chesapeake Energy, has started running ads specifically mentioning Pickens' Plan, while praising the virtue of CNG, or compressed natural gas. Together they make a pretty good team, as they hammer home the message that “drill baby drill” is not a short, or long term solution decreasing dependence on foreign oil is the only solution. But the reason McClendon has grabbed onto Pickens' is because if America "sees the light", and the private and government sectors begin implementing the plan, it would increase demand for CNG, and improve Chesapeake’s position astronomically in the energy marketplace.

That's right, both Pickens and Chesapeake are in it for the money, not that there's anything wrong with that. In fact at last night's Service Forum both the moderators and the candidates addressed the need for incentives to enable volunteers and professionals to perform national or community service. That was the main differences between Obama and McCain last night was that McCain focuses more on national service funded totally by "faith" based and private money, while Obama focuses more on community service, with much of the direct incentives offered, shouldered by the federal government.

Pickens doesn't need to argue either point, because his incentives come from personal profit. He doesn’t need to worry about getting nominated or elected, because he is not running for any office, he is just taking the lead in a campaign which presses the necessity to rethink our energy strategies and programs. Pickens' with his legendary positioning and knowledge of the oil industry sees the writing on the wall, and now is heavily invested in wind power development, which he predicts could take up a substantial portion of our electricity needs. The ripple effect of his plan would not only make him money, but would also help other Americans make money by providing jobs to build the infrastructure and money from land-lease to build the windmills. It is a personal cause with a noble cause by creating opportunities for middle-America as true trickle-down economics.

There's nothing wrong with Pickens spending money to make money, that's what free enterprise and capitalism are all about, and if anyone knows how to make money, I would say Pickens does.

William S. James, Passing compressed natural gas