We Need To Make Tough Choices In Some of Life’s Arenas—And Energy Policy Is One of Them

Fifty-one years ago this evening, the Beatles appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show and attracted a television viewing audience (73 million) that stood as a record for some time.  I was a little boy taking piano lessons, and I recall that my teacher, Ms. Young, was not at all pleased when she saw me later in the week; she asked me if I had tuned in and I answered in the affirmative.  She scowled: “Do you like this garbage???”

She seemed to be calling on me to make a choice, and an irrevocable one at that, between classical and popular music. It was as if she was demanding that I choose a certain girl to marry and live with for the rest of my life.

But why did I have to make a choice?

There are, of course, areas of life where ideas actually do compete, and one concept needs to dominate at the expense of the other.  In the energy space, for instance, we have U.S. President Barack Obama’s “all of the above” approach to energy.  The phrase may hold some political currency, but in fact, we eventually do need to make choices.  In particular, we need an energy policy that phases out fossil fuels over a period of time—and coal first among them.

Having said that, I still enjoy both Frederic Chopin and Mark Knopfler.