Americans have always been an energetic people from the time that the Colonies declared independence from the British to the time that Abraham Lincoln declared civil war over slavery to the period of the great World Wars – World War I and World War II. The energy of this country was much like the Energizer Batteries whose ads feature the pink drummer bunny who is powered by Energizer Batteries – it just keeps going and going.
But in the last 40 years, our national battery seems to be running down, much like a battery that has developed internal shorts and can no longer supply the current needed to move our country forward. And I believe that the root cause of this “run down battery condition” is dissention and disagreement which showed up during the Vietnam War. And lately there seems to be an increasing division of what to do with the great social issues that our country faces such as national health care and immigration. But the longer that this gridlock lasts, the worse the problem becomes!
I am sure that our founding fathers struggled over the decisions that they had to make when they declared independence from the British and that there was much disagreement and dissention. But they did come to an agreement and then they moved forward! And just think of the crushing weight upon Abraham Lincoln’s shoulders as he declared war on the states that seceded from the Union in order to keep the Union together!
I also think that we have cause to be optimistic. We are currently undergoing two of the greatest social/technical revolutions that the world has ever known: the invention of the internet and the move to renewable energy. Many of our recent wars have been fought over oil or the protection of these sources of oil. But as our country moves to the renewable energy of the sun, wind, and tidal currents, we will again become the world’s leader. And of course, we need better batteries to store this renewable energy. But we are blessed with great thinkers such as Elon Musk who think and work outside of the box. What about the Energizer Bunny? It will just keep going and going, powered by lithium batteries, recharged by electricity from the sun. God Bless America!