Nuclear Power in America

Once upon a time America was well on its way to having cheap and clean electricity from nuclear power plants. Then we had a problem with one power plant and that was pretty much the end of nuclear power in America. One after another we closed down the nuclear power plants that we had and we built no more. Instead of looking for ways to build better and safer nuclear plants, we fled from the field. Now we wish we had electricity from nuclear power as people do in Europe, but we are so far behind that it will take us years to catch up.

Drilling for oil off our own shores looks like it will go the same route as nuclear power. We're watching a sickening spill cause terrible destruction, so we will withdraw from drilling rather than look for ways to drill better and safer. We will buy oil from nations that hate us, giving them money to injure us, because we fear drilling on our own soil or off our own beaches. We will run scared instead of taking a thoughtful approach to meeting our own needs in a sane and careful way.

Once upon a time, someone said words of wisdom about how brave men die but once while cowards die a little every day. 

America used to be the home of the brave as well as the land of the free. Are we going to tap our natural resources while we develop better ways to power our lives or are we really going to turn and run from the ordinary challenges of modern life because we are cowards? Are we still a nation of people willing to take risks for a fair possibility of return or will we turn off the heat in our homes and die of a thousand paper cuts?

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