A Tale of Two Windmills

Thursday, December 17, 2015

A Tale of Two Windmills

“Destiny guides our fortunes more favorably than we could have expected. Look there, Sancho Panza, my friend, and see those thirty or so wild giants, with whom I intend to do battle and kill each and all of them, so with their stolen booty we can begin to enrich ourselves. This is noble, righteous warfare, for it is wonderfully useful to God to have such an evil race wiped from the face of the earth."
"What giants?" Asked Sancho Panza.
"The ones you can see over there," answered his master, "with the huge arms, some of which are very nearly two leagues long."
"Now look, your grace," said Sancho, "what you see over there aren't giants, but windmills, and what seems to be arms are just their sails, that go around in the wind and turn the millstone."
"Obviously," replied Don Quixote, "you don't know much about adventures.” 
― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote

Compare the ravings of a literary madman, to the duly elected leader of the free world 

"No challenge poses a greater threat to future generations than climate change," said Obama in a 2014 State of the Union Address (from CNN))


Or this from Secretary of State John Kerry

 " When I think about the array of global climate – of global threats – think about this: terrorism, epidemics, poverty, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction – all challenges that know no borders – the reality is that climate change ranks right up there with every single one of them. And it is a challenge that I address in nearly every single country that I visit as Secretary of State because President Obama and I believe it is urgent that we do so."



Or this from our National Security Advisor  Susan Rice

"Today, we face no greater long-term challenge than climate change, an advancing menace that imperils so many of the other things we hope to achieve,” 


Our current crop of Democrat presidential contenders also is not immune. On Twitter, in a tweet about the GOP primary debate on national security, this is what he had to say...

Fifth #GOPDebate is over. Like the first, not one word about income inequality, climate change, or racial justice. The Rs are out of touch.

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) December 16, 2015

 Yeah, Bernie, you're hip to the times.

And let's not forget Hillary. From her own campaign site  "Climate change is not just a moral and economic issue, it is a defining national security challenge of our time."


All of them tilting at windmills hoping that we will believe like they believe - that they indeed are giants worthy of our fear. Chasing after their imaginations while ignoring the very real security threats our nation faces. 


After all this talk of windmills and green energy, one can't help but think of another fictional windmill. Initially, the brainchild of Snowball, the windmill on Animal Farm was taken over by Napoleon. All the lowly farm animals were to sacrifice their needs for the benefit of the farm. No other matter was more important to the security of the farm. The windmill must be built for the betterment of the future. After several disasters, the windmill was finally finished. Unfortunately, the porcine elite had made other plans for the device. Instead of providing the labor-saving energy promised, the pigs decided that it would be better put to use grinding grain for the making of alcohol, for consumption by them and for sale to the humans.

One would be naive to not suspect the same sort of pig manure going on behind the scenes at these global summits. We know our energy prices go up due to the environmental demands made on the power companies and fuel providers. We have also seen the calls for us to ride our bikes while the elites fly in private jets to these crisis talks. Also apparent are the subsidies and contracts were given to unsustainable and untried green energy companies. Mirroring Orwell's fable of corruption and greed masquerading as common good.

One almost wishes we could blame it on insanity.