Sarah Palin is an object of derision for many but this article points to what is so attractive about her to many Americans: she offers solutions to problems based on a manufactured reality that many Americans don't have the time, skill, or desire to debunk. Drill here, drill now - her energy policy - is the perfect policy for American know-littles and know-nothings who can't do the math that shows that if we could get all US oil out of the ground at the rate necessary to replace imports, domestic supplies will be gone in 4 years. But, her policy makes sense for those who believe environmentalists prevented the construciton of refineries; for those who believe that oil in 10,000 feet of water is cheap to recover; and for those who believe the US has plenty of oil. She has no problem letting the misconceptions of others endure; in this she is like GWB. Most honest people, if they found their statements were misleading huge sections of the population (Saddam and Al Qaeda) would do something to correct the record. She would not. She is the perfect candidate for know-littles and know-nothings, and if it takes a while for the economy to right itself, she will appear with a nasty populist program that addresses problems in simple terms for the know nothings that is based in a false reality. We know she does this already. We need to be extremely careful here. I don't think these is much that can be done about this. The times could be perfect in 2012 for a know-nothing demagogue like Palin.

This liberal in a way hopes they don't come to any sort of agreement and the whole thing collapses. It's like GM and so many other institutions in this country that have all just reached the point where they can't go forward anymore and need to be destroyed so something more effective can take its place.

Powerful existing interests want to keep what they have won. State employees want to keep their salaries, pensions, and early retirement programs. Since these are not really available in the private sector anymore (defined contribution is the rule), they aren't needed to attract people to the public sector now. We can get the same for less, and should do so.

The other problem is ongoing transparency. Our elected officials, frankly as we have seen so amply demonstrated in the past several years at state and federal levels, can't be trusted to spend money wisely. Without knowing where they are sending money, how can we vote intelligently?

Finally, so many programs have been layered on top of one another that it is impossible for an average citizen to understand where all the money goes. This citizen certainly does not. But I want to. I want to know where every dollar goes. Provide access to spreadsheets with lists of recipients so we can see where the money goes. The recipients can have their names redacted, but I really want to know.

The only way out of this morass that has a hope of enduring for some time is to tear apart everything and start over. Simplify expenditures so they can be understood and tracked by an alert citizenry. Show which programs do not require proof of citizenship and how much money goes there to support or knock the support out of the contention that a lot of money goes to illegal aliens. Etc.

Finally, lobbying needs to occur in public. All conversations of our legislators should be available on YouTube or equivalent. The internet is an amazing tool that allows for all sorts of new means to observe what was previously opaque. There are plenty of interested citizens who have time and interest to observe.

We are at the end of the life of our old system of governing and allocation of funds. There is nowhere to go. We need to wind everything down to zero and start from scratch with new principles that are publicly known.

There is enough uranium dissolved in sea water that it is essentially an infinite resource. The cost will be high to get it, but it is available.

France uses lots of nuclear power and they deal with the waste by reprocessing the fuel. The reprocessed fuel is more expensive than virgin fuel, so most nuclear reactors use virgin fuel. Who is going to force nuclear power plants to use expensive reprocessed fuel in the US?

I worked on the Yucca mountain project and the Gant charts for that project that were posted in the office extended until the year 2132! And that facility was large enough only for the waste that already existed. I believe that waste can be moved safely to that facility. And we know that bronze and ceramics last long enough to shed water dripping into the facility from corroding cannisters for the next 10,000 years. But can we depend on our economy and political structures to survive that long to keep the material safe? No. So we should not create it.

Conservation is the cheapest source of energy. Solar is only available at certain times. If we want to get off dead end fuel sources, an extreme conservation program that touches everything from transport to the arrangement of habitation can get us there. It will be easiest to start now. Of course, this is also the solution LEAST likely to be chosen, since the companies that would benefit are small and can't lobby effectively against the status quo, or other organized dead end solutions.