New at Reason: Ron Bailey on Energy Leninism

June 30, 2009

"The worse, the better," supposedly observed Vladimir Lenin. What Lenin meant was that the worse social conditions became in Russia, the more likely he and the Bolsheviks could foment a Communist revolution in that country. President Barack Obama's White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel recently updated Lenin's maxim, saying, "Never allow a crisis to go to waste."

Last Friday, the Democratic leadership in the House of Representatives took those maxims to heart when they pushed through their 1200-page American Clean Energy and Security (ACES) Act. The bill is supposed to address the twin crises of economic recession and climate change by creating millions of new "green" jobs. But instead of an old-fashioned Soviet-style 5-year plan, writes Science Correspondent Ronald Bailey, ACES can be thought of as a 50-year plan to radically transform how Americans produce and use energy. In his latest column, Bailey looks at how the Democrats' 50-year energy plan may backfire on them.

Read all about it here.