What's up next?

America has taken a step forward with the passing of "Obamacare," and despite the fact that some people are threatening elected officials while others are threatening repeal, I'm convinced that more and more people will see how helpful this bill will be and that health care is firmly behind us. I'm also convinced that the TEA Partiers - these people are true lunatics - will all shut up and go home when they get their jobs back. That, of course is based on the assumption that anyone who has the time to go spit on Congressmen who are actively trying to improve our country must be jobless. It's also based on the analysis of Mr. Richard Mack, former Arizona sheriff and TEA Party nut job. "He (Mack) said he has found audiences everywhere struggling to make sense of why they were wiped out last year. These audiences, he said, are far more receptive to critiques once dismissed as paranoia."

In other words, when people lose their jobs, they'll listen to anything. Which brings me to what we can do now to improve America, fix the economy so the TEA Partiers will go home and shut up. We'd also be helping millions of other Americans and the economic health of our country.

I'm receptive to the criticisms that perhaps President Obama should have focused on the economy more than he has. And while the stimulus package has been helpful, it has certainly not saved the day; neither have the unpopular - though probably necessary - bailouts given to banks and the auto industry.

I've got some ideas though. If we're smart about this we can tackle two problems at once. Let's invest in a novel new concept called green energy. In case you've never heard of green energy, it simply refers to alternate - not coal or oil - forms of energy that are both clean and on the way in. In case you missed it, coal and oil are the fuels of yesteryear. Oil will be probably be gone in our lifetime and coal is all kinds of dirty.

Green energy, while not perfect, is the energy of today. It comes in many forms, some like solar and wind power are natural while others, like nuclear energy we create ourselves. I know I'm not advocating anything new and radical here, but why are we clinging to dead and dying fossil fuels when we could be putting Americans to work in a field in which there is so much room for growth and potential. Check out Calera and tell me that it's not the future. Companies such as Calera should receive tax breaks and research funding. If we embrace these technologies by researching and building them here, we can create jobs for Americans while simultaneously increasing our exports, because - call me Nostradamus - the world is going to be clamoring for these technologies in the very near future. Ask China, the world's number one producer of wind turbines. That should be us. It's not too late.

Let's make America better by encouraging an investment in green energy, both for the sake of our economy and, oh yeah, the planet.