Two countries

With apologies to Dickens, the West is facing the Tale of Two Countries, the US and Europe. Starting in the 1960’s both embarked on an anti-nuclear path led by Greenpeace and environmental groups like the Sierra Club. This was followed up in the 1980’s by the climate change scare. The use of fear as a motivated would be the primary strategy. Next came the Green Deal where wind and solar would replace fossil fuels to save the planet from an existential threat. Unelected bureaucrats joined in the fray by creating a mountain of new regulations promoting the carbon free plan. Europe jumped out ahead of the US and can be used as an early warning signal caused by the danger of acting emotionally without a long-range plan. Europe had already been on a path different from America which gave them shorter work week, earlier retirements, longer vacations and more government benefits. They touted their national healthcare as proof of their advanced society. They halted nuclear development, increased regulations, refused fracking and went all in on wind and solar. These changes resulted in utility costs of four times higher than the US, a 20% value added tax (somewhat like a national sales tax), a GDP per person of half the US and a cut in defense spending. Today Europe is deindustrializing as their industries move to China and the US. The population was in rapid decline so they let in foreign migrants too fast and too quick and they are now undergoing a massive deportation plan. They find themselves buying natural gas from America and buying military equipment from the US to help Ukraine fight the war against Russia. The US on the other hand started the same way in the 60’s but at a slower pace. The American people were not so easily manipulated and asked questions. Recall when Ross Perot talked about the giant sucking sound of US jobs moving to Mexico. People questioned the facts around climate change and many were not convinced that wind and solar could replace fossil fuels. Before Trump ever ran for office, he opposed the sending of manufacturing jobs to China (globalization) and he recognized that America must become energy independent and that the bureaucracy had become too big to control. His mottos of drain the swamp and new green scam alerted the people to the folly of replacing fossil fuels with wind and solar. Today, the US is in the process of reindustrialization as trillions of dollars pour into America. Those who have been in control are threatened by these changes and fear their loss of power. They do not challenge the new policies but instead bring in new fears like threat to democracy or a new king. When Trump leaves office the new America with a thriving economy will begin to replace the fear.