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I know of many conservatives who dislike George W Bush. I also think there are many good reasons. I just wonder who they dislike more, Bill Clinton or George Bush. I have to admit that if someone put a gun to my head and made me choose between Bill Clinton or George Bush I would take the bullet. Just kidding, I’d have to go with Bill Clinton. I look at George Bush as a very active president who did a lot of damage. I look at Bill Clinton as a mostly inactive president who did little damage and little good.

What I’m looking for is discussions among real conservatives. neo-cons need not apply

For the sake of this post I’ll define a conservative as someone who wants a small government, low taxes, and is socially conservative.

It’s amazing to me that the issue of racism has come up as a divisive issue in the Democratic primaries. Republicans must be giddy at the prospects of a presidential race against Hillary Clinton after she is branded either as a racist or as being insensitive to race issues. It is more amazing to me that politicians still believe that the issues of race can be resolved by speeches and government intervention. There is very little that the government can do cure the scourge of racism in the US. Don’t get me wrong, there are still some issues the government needs to be involved in. We have proof of openly racist police forces. We have evidence that black men receive harsher sentences when committing the same crimes as white men. These are important issues that need to be addressed. However, fixing these issues will not fix racism in the US. What will fix race in America is dinner.

In the book “Who’s Afraid of a Large Black Man” by Charles Barkley there are interviews of many prominent Americans on the subject of race. The one theme that is repeated again and again is the belief that most Americans who have negative feelings about a particular race do not have any meaningful contact with that particular race. The other repeated theme in this book is that we have lost our appetite to discuss issues of race. “Race is no longer discussed in polite company”.

We live in a country where blacks and whites come in close contact on a daily basis yet live completely separate lives. We all work with people of different colors but rarely see them outside of work. Our churches come with racial divisions. We have “churches” (we whites have the luxury of having white churches without having to call them white churches), “black churches”, “Latino churches”, etc… I have to admit that I have spent more time watching blacks and Latinos on television than interacting with them in real life. How can I have an accurate understanding of my fellow Americans if most of my information about people who are different than me (in skin color) comes from the media instead of through relationships? The answer is that I can not gain an accurate understanding that way.

Now we come to the solution. It is quite simple actually. The answer to this country’s race problem is dinner. Yes, dinner, you heard me correctly. We need to sit down and eat dinner together. We need to purposely eat dinner with people of different races and cultures. Eating dinner together gives us the opportunity to discuss issues in a casual manner. It allows us to see each other as humans and Americans. While eating dinner together we will see that although culturally different, we all have the same basic wants and desires. We all want to be happy, we all want to take care of our families. We all want good jobs. We all are not all that different after all.

Until a year ago I dismissed the notion that racism was a major factor in the US. Then I read two books that have completely changed my perspective. What I’ve learned since then is that even if outright racism is not a major problem the fact that blacks and whites live separate lives and have no meaningful dialog is a problem. If anyone is interested in learning about black/white race relations in the US I highly recommend these two books. I’d love to hear of other books people are reading on the topic.

1) Dominion by Randy Alcorn. This is actually a fictional book but it really opened my eyes. The book attempts to describe the feelings and emotions that a professional white collar black man will typically go through. One interesting part of the book deals with slavery and shows that the black slaves were more dignified and civilized than their supposedly superior masters.

2) By the Color of Our Skin: The Illusion of Integration and the Reality of Race by Leonard Steinhorn and Barbara Diggs-Brown. This book is amazing. The authors take real facts and data to prove that blacks and whites lead separate lives even when they work together. Because the book makes arguments based on data instead of emotions it is as unbiased a book as you can find on the topic.

I’ve long heard that nuclear power is too expensive to be a viable solution to our energy problems. However, with Oil at $140+ a barrel doesn’t the equation change? It’s interesting that both McCain and Obama give at least modest support for Nuclear energy. McCain seems to see nuclear power as the long term solution while Obama support is somewhat tepid in that he sees nuclear energy as part of a larger solution. Even long time environmentalist Nancy Pelosi now supports the option of exploring nuclear energy.

It appears that nuclear energy may be the answer to our energy problems. With advances in battery technology coming fast and furious we are in a position to harness electricity for transportation as well as using electricity for traditional uses. However, there are many opponents of nuclear power who fear that nuclear waste will cause pollution or that nuclear meltdowns could cause massive damage to the environment.

I believe the last nuclear power plant to be built in the US was designed in the 70s and built in the 80s. Technology has made huge leaps and bounds since then. It seems reasonable to me that many of the problems we faced in the past could be overcome today. Issues like how to handle the waste created by a nuclear power plant and the safety and stability of the plant have modern day solutions.

My question to Newsvine readers and writers is if we were to see nuclear energy as a long term solution to our energy needs, how long would it take before we see a significant impact if we started planning new facilities? Also, how expensive would nuclear energy be compared to various other forms of energy: oil, solar, coal, hydroelectric, geothermal energy, etc… Please do not let this become a debate of blaming political parties for today’s energy problems. I’m really interested in rational discussion of where to go from here.

Here is a video from one of the Democrat debates.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjDmyToTYBE
From Barack Obama

“I actually think we should explore nuclear power as part of the energy mix. There are no silver bullets to this issue”

From John Edwards:

I do not favor nuclear power

From www.johnmccain.com:

John McCain Will Put His Administration On Track To Construct 45 New Nuclear Power Plants By 2030 With The Ultimate Goal Of Eventually Constructing 100 New Plants. Nuclear power is a proven, zero-emission source of energy, and it is time we recommit to advancing our use of nuclear power. Currently, nuclear power produces 20% of our power, but the U.S. has not started construction on a new nuclear power plant in over 30 years. China, India and Russia have goals of building a combined total of over 100 new plants and we should be able to do the same. It is also critical that the U.S. be able to build the components for these plants and reactors within our country so that we are not dependent on foreign suppliers with long wait times to move forward with our nuclear plans.

A quote from Nancy Pelosi
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2007/02/08/pelosi-reconsiders-nuclear-power/

The technology has changed, and I bring a more open mind to that subject now,” she said at a House Science and Technology Committee hearing. Legislation to mitigate global warming is a priority for the California Democrat, and nuclear power - touted as an emissions-free way to generate electricity — is gaining traction as a way to improve the environment while meeting the nation’s growing demands for power.