When I began this short-lived blog, I thought that this would be a repository for my thoughts on disparate elements of the renewable energy ecosystem, addressing the interaction between technology and culture, policy and business, and eventually, oil, gas, and coal.

It turns out that recent events have made this insufficient for me, and for the original idea I had in mind.

To that end, this blog will have two major components going forward; Energy Matters, where I write about the aforementioned topics, and The Great Game, where I ruminate on the state of politics today.

Note that it is politics, and not policy, that I choose to write about. Unfortunately, politics has long determined what policies make it out of the legislative process, and that fact has completely subsumed almost every other consideration that goes into policy-crafting, whether it is efficacy, cost, or even likelihood of implementation.

As an example, let’s look at the current attempt to repeal and replace the Affordable Healthcare Act. The alternatives that are being pitched would be less effective, more expensive, and are virulently opposed by one faction within the Republican Party. It’s not even good politics, as most Republican voters have seen the benefits of the ACA in their lives, even if they don’t know that it is the ACA’s handiwork or are loathe to admit it, and are even more loathe to lose those benefits.

But repeal and replace was good politics for the last 7 years, and 7 years of momentum make it hard to turn on a dime, even when it is good fiscal and political sense to do so, and now the Republican Party is mired in bog of its own making.

So, The Great Game will try to make sense of the motivations of the story of the day, or the week and the potential ramifications of the decisions driving those stories. It will also ofter some prescriptions that not only reasonable, but actionable. Saying “Republicans should adopt the Democratic Party platform, disavow Fox News, and push the Democrats to the left” would be lovely but completely unrealistic, unreasonable, and not actionable.

Instead, I will be writing about the flaws in each major party and how we might see change for the better come about. We’re currently trapped in a negative feedback loop between the two parties that produces very real gains for Republicans in the short-term but is incredibly damaging to both parties in the long-term.

I will do my utmost to keep energy and politics separate. Where there is overlap, I will be sure to note it as an exception, but when energy and government intersect, I will make it clear if it is energy and policy or energy and politics that I will be writing about.

If you are reading this, thank you for re-starting this journey with me. As I learn about the world around me, I hope you do, too.

– Carlos E Gomez