The reparation after the war was a magnanimous gesture, well, maybe not considering Hiroshima and Nagasaki, depends on your point of view, but the idea was to put countries back together again. Japan was already a great manufacturing country, so was Germany, they both had very, very impressive products before and during the war, but most facilities were destroyed in the fight. The post war vision was to re build, it is only natural, and proper.
No question they had to rebuild, but I think they went a bit beyond what they had before the war, wouldn't you agree?
There is nothing wrong with having a vision, it is just that you cannot expect everyone to hitch their wagon to your star. And I don't think it would be fair, or proper to coerce people to do so unwillingly.
Jeez, I guess I don't communicate too well anymore. Sorry about that. What I was getting at was not having someone hitch a wagon to my star or anyone else's...I was concerned that we (Canada) might not have any star to which the citizens' wagons could be hitched. Apologies for not making that one clear.
Canada's vision, as a country, seems to be to accept everyone as they are, not offend anyone, and be intolerant of intolerance, uless of course you are intolerant of the intolerant, sorry Orwellian Double Speak. But anyway, not a stellar vision, but one that seems to be in vogue right now.
OK, Bob. I understand that's how we see ourselves (more or less), and I agree with that part in front of Orwellian Double Speak. :lol:
I was thinking more along the lines of a "proactive" vision. Just to illustrate - and picking an example out of thin air - try this...We have a problem in Canada with uh, let's see...could by one of many, but let's go with
energy. We're "energy hogs" and waste far too much of it. The answer? Go with alternative energy sources. Use less energy to accomplish results (be more efficient). Change some of the ways we conduct day to day activities. ...and the list would go on and on, right?
Now, how do you get an entire country to "spring to action" and start using less energy? One way is to enact legislation to do bits and pieces of the above. Problem is, legislation is created by politicians and by the time it gets through the process, it is like 'watered down whiskey.' Nature of the beast - the folks in Ottawa think they have to please all the people all the time, and of course, they end up with compromises all over the place. Initial problems solved? Nope. Might even have created more of them along the way! Of course, there are some efforts and programs in place that are moving in the right direction, and that's good.
But, how to
really wrestle this beast to the ground (use less energy)? Well, I think more people would respond to the challenge if, first and foremost, they understood it better. You can't deal with something if you don't at least understand it. Sure, there is lots and lots and lots of information available out there, but is the general population jumping all over it? I don't think so. I mean, look at the wastes of energy in your own home (well, MINE, anyway) - little LED lights on the DVD player, the TV, the satellite/cable receiver, the microwave oven, etc., etc. Do we need them on all the time? No. Sure, it's a silly little example and of course LEDs are not a big energy hog, but if you added all of them up across the country, they must use SOME energy. So what?
Well now, let's imagine (yeah, it takes a wild imagination) that Canada - that is us, our elected politicians and the citizens - decided that we were going to become the most energy efficient country in the world. In fact, we would see ourselves as the WORLD LEADER in energy efficiency in some period of years down the road. I'm not talking about sitting around a table discussing it with other countries and making ourselves feel good that we're doing a lot of talking...no, I mean crafting an objective to become so good at energy management (by that, I mean the really big picture...the creation of it, the use of it, and so on) that we could and would actually
lead the whole world in the cause. Just think of it..."CANADA - HELPING THE WORLD, ENERGETICALLY!"
(Yeah, well, it's one slogan)
To get there, it would require a lot of creativity, guts, determination, risk-taking, and more. It would require a collective effort - all levels of government, corporations, and the people - to make this "dream come true." Companies will invest in things if they see a potential return on investment...They
gotta' make money (or they cease to exist. Period.)
The government could play a few different roles – trumpeting the cause (getting out the right messages), smoothing out the red tape barriers, perhaps a few tax incentives, and more. Hell, I think the federal government should form an advisory body of real people who have a burning passion and knowledge of this
(I would nominate Cliffy as the first one) who can help maintain a sense of realism to the whole effort. All citizens would play a role in the support of the efforts, but could and should stand to benefit personally – new jobs (created by the companies involved) would be one that comes to mind. (Unemployment is a bit of an issue most of the time, is it not?)
Actually, we have most of the ingredients right now. We have some innovative companies, we have a government, and we certainly have a number of concerned and knowledgeable citizens. So what's missing?
A plan to make it all work together. A means of bringing our great resources together. In short, a
vision.
And that is a not-too-short but certainly only one illustration of what I'm referring to as a
vision. Long-winded but I'm not smart enough to boil it down any further than that...and don't forget, the high-speed rail system might end up right in this "energy strategy" as the most energy-efficient way to move people and goods across the country. Maybe. I don't know - maybe it's part of the "Transportation Vision"...:lol:
I wish Canada would just grow up, vision or not.
It could happen sooner with a vision.
