Tuesday, October 7, 2008 | by nathan

Why I’m Voting Obama, Part 3

I grew up in a small town in western Oklahoma that is now home to one of the biggest wind farms on the southern Great Plains. I have seen the town I called home during childhood transformed by the presence of wind energy, its economy and citizens revitalized and renewed by the prospect of being the ones to provide a new, renewable, locally-produced electricity to their fellow Oklahomans and Americans.

Barack Obama wants to ensure that 10 percent of our energy comes from renewable sources by the end of his first term, and 25 percent by 2025, all while reducing our electricity demand by 15 percent by 2020. He wants to get a million new plug-in hybrid cars on the road by 2015, and he wants those cars to be built in America. Creating a new energy infrastructure that frees us from our dependence on foreign oil has the additional benefit of creating millions of new jobs. Read Barack’s full energy plan at his website.

At the same time, Barack Obama has a solid plan to strengthen our transportation infrastructure, creating an additional 1 million jobs rebuilding our collpasing roads and bridges. Additionally, he will invest in Amtrak and promote the construction of both local and effective public transportation systems as well as nationwide high-speed passenger and freight rail. More on Barack’s transportation plan is available here.

When I think about these changes, I keep thinking back to all the times in the past when the challenges we’ve faced in the past have forced us as Americans to accept the challenge of upgrading our infrastructure. In the 1950s we built the interstate highway system as more and more cars hit the roads and interstate freight volume grew beyond what our rail system could handle. In the 1990s as the Internet exploded into more and more homes, we laid millions of miles of fiber optic cable to promote broadband access across the country. Now, our dependence on foreign oil and the terrifying climate crisis forces us to re-examine our infrastructure again. We can create so much more of our electricity with clean, renewable resources. We can invest in mass transit and clean transportation technologies and infrastructure that will lessen our dependence on foreign oil and reduce the amount of the world’s oil - currently 25% - that we consume. Doing all of this will create millions of new, green tech jobs, and those millions of jobs would have the potential to revive our economy in a major way and make us world leaders in climate change. Barack Obama has a plan, and it’s a solid one.

As someone who grew up in what could be the "Wind Energy Capital of the World," I know that the possibility is there; all we need is the will to do it and a leader with the courage and vision to make it happen.

John McCain believes the market will make these changes happen; for basically the last 40 years, 30 of which we’ve spent under Republican rule in this country, the markets, the big oil companies, the automakers, have had the chance and the need to do all of this. Barack Obama believes it will take an act of the people, that together we can summon the political will to make this a reality. Here, watch this:

Also, if you are not registered to vote, or are not planning to vote, get your ass the hell out of this country. Rock the Vote has a great page listing voter registration deadlines and providing information on registering for every state. Oklahoma’s voter registration deadline is this Friday. If you cannot be bothered to register, call me and not only will I come to your house, pick you up, take you to register, and provide you with campaign literature for any candidate you’d like, I will also take you to dinner. I don’t care you who plan to vote for; JUST REGISTER TO VOTE.