I posted yesterday a little note about solar power. I'll post more on that topic soon...I don't have any ground-breaking ideas, just some thoughts of my own on the topic. I don't claim to have any extraordinary insight, but part of the point of blogging is to allow a certain level of navel-gazing.
The real joy of blogging, though, is getting comments from random people. Some folks I know, others I cannot identify. I've got more than a grain of salt for when I read those comments - indeed, I've got a whole salt block for that purpose.
Still, I thought I'd take a moment to respond to a comment from my post from yesterday. I could to that in the comments thread, but where's the fun in that?
"Tom" got on my case for having an upper-middle-class liberal mindset and expecting the government to just fix everything. He also chastised me for not having already solarified my own house.
I'm so pleased that he knowns my entire financial and personal situation. I'll go right out today and purchase some solar panels. I didn't know I could so trivially get a loan and that I had the available money. I'm very pleased to have that notion collected.
For those of you not following along at home, the word for that previous paragraph is "sarcasm". Not everyone can trivially borrow money, and not everyone can just shell out an extra $100 a month. I always enjoy when people make assumptions about others. This was a lovely example. I really enjoyed the key paragraph at the end of his comment:
"This is a perfect illustration of the upper-middle-class liberal mindset. You feel guilty because don't do something that you think is good. Rather than actually DO THE THING, you want to have government make other people do the thing. It is perfect; it assuages your guilt without any meaningful change to your actual life!"
Yeah, dude, you know me. Guilt-laden is how I always think of myself. I would suggest that you wait for the rest of the thread in the future. By the way, Tom, I'm pleased to see that your company has shown some leadership in being "green". Congrats to them - I hope they succeed.
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David,
I did not get on your case for expecting the government to "fix everything". I got on your case for suggesting that the government force others to do that which you are unwilling to do yourself.
You noted that your home does not have solar, then suggested that new homes be required to have solar. I suggested that you should solar your home before requiring others to do so, and pointed out how you might do so for a relatively small monthly cost.
You commented on my suggestion with ... "Not everyone can trivially borrow money, and not everyone can just shell out an extra $100 a month."
I COMPLETELY AGREE, which is my point. You missed my sarcasm; I guess I should have pointed it out. Just as I should not presume that you can afford the extra $100/month for solar, you should not presume that anyone else can, and the government should not require that others spend the extra $100/month that installing solar on a new home would add to the payment.
Perhaps I should not have used "guilt" , but I stand by the "liberal mind-set" part of it. You want the government to force others to do something you are not willing to do yourself.
Take care -- Tom J. HMC '87
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