I was born in the 60’s. When I was 13, I wrote a report  for my eighth grade class on how to invest in the stock market. I was a budding young republican just like Alex Keaton (Michael J. Fox) on Family Ties.

In my report I chose to invest in a company called Tyco Labs. Why? Because they had this budding new technology that was going to free us from the strangle hold that Middle East Oil and the damage price spikes created by OPEC were doing to our economy. They went bankrupt a few years later.

This promising new technology, solar panels. That’s right solar panels. The solar panel of 5 years ago was barely changed from the one in 1973. In the 1970’s $1 a gallon gas was considered outrageous. Yet, that $1 in 1973 would buy the same amount of goods $6 buys today. So when gas topped $4 a gallon just a couple of years ago it was still cheaper than it was in 1973. And today at less than $2.50, well gas is a bargain.

So why go solar. Well, in the 1970’s it cost about $100 to produce a watt of electricity using a solar panel. Today that cost is less than $1.

So why is gas so cheap? They would have you believe that it’s because they keep finding new and vast supplies of oil. Yet, they have to drill and dig deeper or travel farther into the wilderness to get it. And at what cost? An Exxon/Valdez, BP’s Deepwater Horizon. That sounds more like a horror movie than an oil rig. Well, it was actually a horror story that is still unfolding.

We pump water and toxic waste into our land to fracture the earth so it give up natural gas. Again at what cost to the environment, our food and water. Then we burn it all and release more toxins into the atmosphere. Coal isn’t any cleaner either. Just look at China. Take all the environmental protections off burning coal and you get barely breathable air and lots health issues.

But’s it not cheap. It does bring down the cost of oil. At least the direct cost of oil. Only because of competition, not because there is a vast supply. The price is based on the alternatives. So when alternatives threaten the cash flow, oil companies and oil producers lower their prices.

They stifle technology and innovation. For years, in the case of solar, almost 40 years. So why is solar finally coming of age. Well, not because of U.S. innovation. Because other Countries are not making clean energy a political wedge issue. Other Countries don’t subsidize fossil fuels by allowing the cost of waste and by-products to be hidden in their national budgets. They tax the crap out of fossil fuels. They make the indirect costs part of the price through taxation, not hiding it through subsidies.

So why should we subsidize alternatives? Why should there be tax credits for solar panels and electric vehicles? Well to a few (very few) that’s pretty obvious. Because we already subsidize fossil fuels either directly or indirectly. Through tax credits for depletion or through military campaigns to protect our “interests” in foreign lands.

When you add up all the costs associated with fossil fuels, EV friendly power generation is far cheaper and far more efficient in producing electricity and propelling personal transportation than fossil fuels.

So don’t let the price of gas today cloud your judgement. The future price of fossil fuels is far more costly than it appears to be.

A good conservative takes advantage of every tax break available. They also conserve resources. Natural and economic.

A smart conservative will actually look past the industry sponsored “research” and find the facts.

It’s time for the U.S. to take back the lead and finish what we started almost 40 years ago.