Deus Ex Machine

I had the opportunity today to hear U.S. Representative John Barrow speak about the proposed cap and trade legislation. The House passed a bill containing a cap and trade provision months ago, albeit without the vote of Congressman Barrow, and the matter is now in the hands of the Senate. Barrow, an unabashed Blue-Dog Democrat, has been supportive of Georgia’s electric utilities, including cooperatives, but more importantly, he has been a proponent of affordable energy for Georgia consumers and industry.

Two of Barrow’s points really hit home for me. The first was a comparison of the energy policy work of Nancy Pelosi, Henry Waxman, and Harry Reid to “deus ex machine”. Now, if you’re not a theatre or film major, then like me, you probably haven’t heard that term. It’s Latin for “God from the machine” or sometimes “God in a box”. And it’s a plot device in which something miraculously appears to help a character to overcome a seemingly insolvable predicament. It’s also apparently considered to be a poor storytelling technique. In the case of the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, it’s a pretty apt term.

According to Representative Barrow, Democrats are trying to push through legislation that raises electricity prices in hopes that technology will emerge allowing future energy needs to be met without carbon release. Ergo deus ex machine. That technology is far off from being born. Heck, it isn’t even a glimmer in daddy’s eye. It’s a bad plot. And Netflix probably won’t take this one back.

Congressman Barrow’s also comparing carbon reduction to the U.S.’s drive to reach the moon in the 1960s. According to Barrow, the country’s leadership declared that a moon landing was a critical priority. Scientists and money were thrown at the problem. If global warming is really a threat, why weren’t the stimulus plan bucks spent on carbon sequestration technology, DC transmission lines or superconductors to transmit wind energy to population centers. Instead, Democrats are hoping an environment of high energy costs will spur independent advances in technology.

As inspiring as Representative Barrow’s words were to me, they only made three pairs of eyes glaze over at the dinner table tonight. Energy policy just isn’t racy. Unfortunately, Americans will not take interest in what the Democrats have done to them until they discover that energy prices are too expensive. And then conservation will happen—the fallback position for Democrats should dues ex machine fail to appear at the eleventh hour.

Grab some popcorn and keep your seat. Thanks to the help of Blue Dog Democrats, there’s a lot of plot left.