The Great Contraceptive of Innovation

Throughout history, humanity has had many problems and made many mistakes. Our ability to solve these problems and correct our mistakes have made our country great. It may take years of work and pain to arrive at a solution, but in the past we have had a lot of success. Why is it that we can't seem to overcome even the most trivial problems today? Turn on the news and everything's a crisis. We've got a housing crisis, health care crisis, immigration crisis, everything is falling apart and it's all getting worse. Today, I'm casting my hostile eyes on the fuel cost crisis. You should all know about the global food shortage caused by high food prices. Of course, these high food prices are caused by governments around the world subsidizing and mandating the use of ethanol. The U.S.A. spent a grand total of $7 billion in 2006 on ethanol subsidies. That doesn't count the $11 billion in tax incentives for ethanol. It also doesn't count the extra money people around the world are spending for basic food items. This money was spent to reduce our energy dependence on foreign oil and decrease greenhouse gas emissions. I will admit it has done that. At the cost of billions of dollars and possibly hundreds of thousands of lives, we have become 1.1% more energy independent and decreased greenhouse gas emissions by .002%. However, if we continue to spend $7 billion each year and hand out more tax incentives we could become 2.8% more energy independent and decrease greenhouse gas emissions by .13% by 2017. Total cost: only $93 billion. Again, not counting the world's increase in their grocery budget. And the price at the pump continues to climb. Talk about a great rate of return. It looks like our central planners have made an error. If only someone like a founding father had written something to give us some guidance on this issue. Wait, maybe Thomas Jefferson wrote something in 1784 in Notes on Virginia. Let me check. He wrote about governments that allowed free inquiry. These governments made it possible for advancements in physics and to start Christianity. They made it possible by allowing people like the Apostles and Sir Isaac Newton to reason and experiment on their own without government interference, such as Galileo faced when he proposed the world was round. "Reason and experiment have been indulged, and error has fled before them. It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself." To put it in modern terms, if you need billions of taxpayer dollars to be a viable energy source, you do not have a viable energy source. Private citizens and businesses can deliver proper solutions and lower prices if only the government would stop interfering. With subsidies, tax incentives, and over-regulation, the government is the barrier that prevents the conception of truly innovative ideas.