HIGHLAND, UT | 23 July 2008| One of the hottest topics in the marketplace of ideas is America’s growing concern with energy. Many say that oil production peaked in 2005 and will soon dry up. Others say that petroleum based internal combustion engines, though not very efficient, are here to stay. Many are looking for alternative sources of oil, such as shale or from algae while others argue that these sources are not feasible for the country’s needs. And there is the ubiquitous clamoring that our current “dependence” upon foreign oil is draining our coffers dry. One of the latest to come on the scene for the current crisis of alternative solutions, is a man named T. Boone Pickens.

With a name like T. Boone Pickens: if you picture a Texas oil tycoon millionaire philanthropist, you would be correct. Though his plan is new, Pickens is not new to the energy industry. The son of an oil producer and a degree in geology, no doubt to aid him in understanding where oil, natural gas and other energy sources may be found in the earth, Pickens was the founder of Mesa Petroleum, which grew to become “one of the largest and most well known independent exploration and production companies in the United States” under his stewardship. Simply put, Pickens’ background and experience definitely qualifies him to be listened to regarding an alternative plan.

His plan is to use one of the world’s greatest wind resources to generate enough electricity to power other energy plants and to provide a portion of America’s electricity needs, thus relieving the need to operate these plants with oil, so the oil demand in the country would drop and more oil could also be used to produce fuel for our vehicles. The Plan also provides for alternative sources of automobile fuel, such as natural gas and ultimately electricity. The plan appears quite legitimate, in and of itself. But it contains a serious flaw that will prove it ultimate failure, and perhaps the failure of our great nation.

Principles govern in the affairs of man. A plan that violates those principles may prove quite successful in the short-term, but will ultimately spell the doom of all those involved. In this regard, Pickens doesn’t really appear to violate principle in the plan itself: wind, natural gas, and other sources of energy are as viable as any other on earth. And left up to a good capitalist, say, another Henry Ford or Steve Jobs, these alternatives could definitely become the next hysteria in transportation. The major flaws of the Pickens Plan is the implementation.

Pickens has been in Washington D.C.all this week, lobbying elected officials and testifying before committees, looking for “permission” to carry forth his plan. This corporatist approach to solving this nation’s challenges violates the Principles of Prosperity and will ultimately end in ruins.

Key Points

• Those who seek the protection of government believe government provides prosperity. Those who understand where true prosperity comes from will then gain the faith necessary to act appropriately. Pickens reveals his faith in government rather than God:

It can all be accomplished with private investment but needs government support by clearing the way for action, which means help on providing the transmission right of way, the appropriate renewals of the renewable energy tax credits, among other things.

• In reality, the plan, any plan, only needs one thing from government: to get itself out of the way and allow informed citizens to voluntarily create the solutions the country seeks.
• Faith is the opposite of fear. again, a thorough understanding of God as the true source of prosperity puts the course in perspective and creates a level of certainty. This builds faith which aids an individual to action. Pickens wants to have the government force its citizens to follow his plan. He lacks the faith that people will see this for themselves. If an intended market does not recognize its self-interest in a given market item, the only way to get that intended market to buy into it is by force. The better solution for Pickens would be to create the project more locally and have it prove its legitimacy and allow it to catch on in the rest of the country. To his credit, he is currently building the largest wind farm in the world which will have the productive capability of four coal-fire plants. Perhaps, however, he feels this is too slow.
• By attaching stewardship (the responsibility of failure) to the collective body, the Pickens Plan creates a fissure in agency. No one will act responsibly enough to ensure success. This allows an escape hatch to exist in case of failure. And when it crashes, too many otherwise responsible parties will echo Atlas Shrugs’, “It’s not my fault.” This gets people off the hook but it does not create a formula for success.

Conclusion

The intended implementation process of the Pickens Plan is the product of a collective attitude within the American society that says business success can only happen with government’s blessing. This is the result of decades of fascist and other socialist influence over not just government’s psyche, but that of the general population as well. Thus, the truth of the FreeCapitalist statement: Everyone is trained, taught, and educated in the scarcity paradigm. That psyche is the flame that has fueled our society from the Great Depression right down to the next big bail out and the next government-enforced great idea. On paper, the Pickens Plan looks really good, but these violations of principle will spell the ultimate doom. The Founders created a country in which rugged individualism and social strength, based upon the universal principles of prosperity, would move this country forward in success. Anything short of that, anything that replaces faith with fear, is at best a counterfeit and will not work.

Action Items

1. Review the Pickens Plan for yourself and decide whether the energy portion of the plan is something you could support.
2. Communicate with your Congressman your position regarding any government involvement in this Plan.
3. If you have an idea you’ve contemplated bringing to market, study Principle 1 (God is the author of prosperity) and Principle 2 (Faith begins with self-interest) until you have built enough faith in yourself and in others to bring your idea to market according to principle.

MRFC Principles:  1  (1, 2, 3, 11, 12, 13)

Sources

The Man with the Plan,PickensPlan.com.

The Plan,PickensPlan.com.

T. Boone Pickens’ energy plan gets play in Washington, Dallas Business Journal, July 23, 2008.

C. Rick Koerber, A Call for Revolution,The FreeCapitalist Project Primer, p. 19.