Friday, April 23, 2010

On board the train to a better society

Well America, if you're worried that we missed the boat on green and alternate technology, fear not, we can still catch the train. The only problem is that the train is coming from China.

That's right, while the world's most innovative and prosperous country sits on the sidelines the Chinese will be building our railroads...again. Except this time, we're not importing Chinese workers to lay track across the country, we're importing Chinese technology because we're too stubborn to embrace the future.

Now I know that SUVs are cool and every real American needs a truck - a Chevy or a Ford, of course - but while we cruise across the interstate in our Hummers getting 12 miles to the gallon, the country that seems destined to supplant us as the world's largest economy is building bullet trains, the kind that travel at speeds up to 215 miles an hour in an efficient and environmentally-friendly manner.

As an American patriot this frustrates me. I feel as though I'm pleading here, but it's time to get on this train, even if it is being built in China. While we're at it, we should start building our own, or, even better, start investing in the development of similar technologies that we can produce here in the United States.

In a previous post, yours truly, Nostradamus, pointed out that the world will be clamoring for these new green technologies soon. Well soon is today and the people doing the clamoring are in California. Pretty soon they'll be all over the world and they'll be buying their new trains and wind turbines from...China. I don't have anything against China, but I cringe writing that because it should say the United States of America. We should be investing in these technologies here. California should be buying its bullet trains from factories in America.

Apparently, we've missed that boat, but we can still catch the train. Let's make America better today by hopping aboard. Maybe once we see how great China's trains are, we will find the fortitude to start making some of our own.

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