About us
This meetup started in 2015 as a group for people in the Philadelphia area who were concerned with the current political turmoil in America, but who also felt that the prevailing liberal-vs-conservative political paradigm is unnecessarily limiting our ability to think rationally about politics & search for policy solutions. Since we shifted to mostly online meetups in 2020, we've opened the group up to people everywhere. If you like to talk politics but you've got some moderate or unconventional views that leave you feeling out of place at most of the activist groups, party meetings & political rallies in your area, this meetup is for you!
However, if your political views put you on the far left or far right of the political spectrum - i.e. you're a Marxist, anarchist, "woke" left-wing identitarian, fascist/ethno-nationalist, Islamist, Black Hebrew Israelite, Christian fundamentalist, etc., or sympathetic to these positions - please go elsewhere. Also, if you consider yourself a moderate Republican or moderate Democrat but your views are just generic talking points you've gleaned from listening to Fox News & Tucker Carlson or MSNBC & The View, this group is not for you. It may seem uncharitable to exclude people, but from past experience our discussions just don't work very well with these folks, since they tend to be close-minded and see all of our problems as the result of only one of our political parties - i.e. they're not even remotely "agnostic".
"Political Agnosticism" is a term I came up with back in 2015 to represent a non-dogmatic approach to politics that acknowledges uncertainty and the validity of multiple perspectives, and looks for practical solutions without worrying about adherence to an overarching political ideology. The purpose of this agnostic, skeptical & free-thinking approach is to avoid treating politics as a "culture war" based on group identities or a clash of "political religions" based more on devotion to a party than knowledge of the issues. Instead, when we cover a political issue, we look at what experts in various disciplines know (and don't know) about it, tease out the ethical implications, note the tradeoffs between different policy approaches, and then look at potential solutions that encompass everything we've learned.
The only political values that are prerequisites for members are a belief in civility & tolerance towards those we disagree with, a belief in traditional civil liberties like the freedom of speech, freedom of thought, freedom of association, and the right to privacy, as well as respect for institutional norms like separation of church & state, academic freedom, press freedom, government transparency, due process, judicial impartiality, and free & fair elections. These principles of an "open society" form the preconditions for the existence of a non-partisan political forum like ours.
Our general approach to politics is based on a concept we've borrowed from another organization, the Circle of Reason, called "pluralistic rationalism" – i.e. a personal commitment to reasoning, regardless of one's worldview. We start by assuming that reasonable people can differ in their cores values, whether it's framed as a preference for freedom vs security, tradition vs progress, individualism vs communitarianism, meritocracy vs egalitarianism, patriotism vs cosmopolitanism, etc. However, this approach is also premised on the belief that we should all commit to following the rules of logic & evidence-based reasoning. "Pluralistic Rationalism" is based on 3 tenets: (1) Factualism (as opposed to Denialism) for sourcing knowledge, (2) Skepticism (as opposed to Dogmatism) for vetting knowledge, and (3) Moderation (as opposed to Emotion) for expressing knowledge. To learn more about "pluralistic rationalism", see the Circle of Reason's website: http://www.circleofreason.org/
We are committed to creating a space for non-partisan political discussion based on intellectual honesty, mutual respect & civility. That means adopting the conversational principles of charity & good faith, avoiding name-calling, and trying to understand the best arguments that can be made for each side.
The goals for this meetup group are as follows:
(1) We try to understand why people - including ourselves - are predisposed by inherent psychological traits, cultural milieu & life experiences to have different moral intuitions & political orientations. We generally use a mix of the Big Five personality traits & Jonathan Haidt's Moral Foundations Theory, as well as Dan Kahan's work on "cultural cognition".
(2) We look at moral philosophy to try to better understand how moral axioms logically connect to one another and form ethical systems like deontological ethics, utilitarianism, virtue ethics, and contractarianism. We examine how these ethical systems form the basis for political philosophy, legal philosophy, and normative theories in the social sciences.
(3) We try to increase our level of rationality by learning how to spot logical fallacies, cognitive biases, flawed statistics, and various forms of groupthink. We often look to the bloggers of the "rationalist community" (e.g. Eliezer Yudkowsky, Scott Alexander, Julia Galef, Spencer Greenberg, Nate Soares, Aella, Stefan Schubert, Zvi Moshowitz, Jacob Falkovich, Ozy Brennan, Sarah Constantin, Gwern Branwen, Roko Mijic), the board members of the Center for Applied Rationality (CFAR), as well as the hosts of the Bayesian Conspiracy podcast (Steven Zuber, Eneasz Brodski, Katrina Stanton, Jace Dickey). We could also include "rationalist-adjacent" bloggers like Tim Urban (Wait But Why), Samuel Hammond (Second Best), Matthew Adelstein (Bentham's Bulldog), Jack Despain Zhou (Tracing Woodgrains), as well as data journalists like Nate Silver & Nate Cohn, tech gurus like Paul Graham & Vitalik Buterin, and scholars like Daniel Kahneman, Philip Tetlock, Keith Stanovich, Scott Aaronson, Nick Bostrum, John Nerst, Sabine Hossenfelder, and Zeynep Tufekci who've promoted a similar style of detached, analytical thinking & strategic forecasting.
(4) We try to educate members on both the fundamentals and the latest research from the social sciences, and we discuss how this relates to current events & trending political topics. Aside from looking at academic research, a lot of our reading material comes from data/explainer journalism sites, econ & policy blogs, as well as the major public intellectuals & pundits from across the political spectrum.
(5) We try to imagine alternative types of political & economic systems that could provide better outcomes for the future based on both theory & empirical data. This often involves looking at various "maps of the policy landscape" like the Cato & Fraser Institutes' Human Freedom Index, SPI's Social Progress Index, the Economist's Democracy Index, the UN World Happiness Report, and others, even as we acknowledge the way their limitations, particularly the way they try to quantify qualitative factors that are often vague or inherently subjective.
(6) As part of our effort to break away from the narrow range of ideas represented by the two major political parties, we often look at constellations of ideas that could be described as syncretic, contrarian or heterodox. This often involves looking to intellectuals who've resisted the major populist & identitarian currents on the left and right, such as the scholars associated with Jonathan Haidt's Heterodox Academy, Peter Singer's Journal of Controversial Ideas, Keith E. Whittington's Academic Freedom Alliance, and Yascha Mounck's Persuasion.
(a) For critical insight on trends within conservatism, we often refer to conservative pundits who've criticized the GOP's ideological capture by Trump, e.g. David French, Sarah Isgur, Jonah Goldberg, Charles Sykes, Kevin Williamson, Anne Applebaum, Bret Stephens, George Will, Mona Charen, and other writers at sites like 'The Dispatch' and 'The Bulwark'. Also of interest are the Obama-era "reformicons" (e.g. David Frum, Yuval Levin, Ross Douthat, Reihan Salam, Ramesh & April Ponnuru, David Brooks, James Pethokoukis) who tried to steer the party more towards the interests of the middle & working classes in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, only to end up politically homeless when Trump took over the GOP. (Note: I specifically didn't include some neocons like Bill Kristol, Max Boot, Stephen Hayes, Liz Cheney, etc., since they've never appeared to modify their hawkish foreign policy views in light of the disastrous Iraq War they championed.)
(b) For critical insight on trends within libertarianism, we often refer to "cosmopolitan libertarians" (a.k.a. Beltway libertarians) at the Cato Institute & its "liberaltarian" offshoot the Niskanen Center, the GMU economics department (e.g. Tyler Cowen, Alex Tabbarock, Robin Hanson, Bryan Caplan, Russ Roberts, Walter E. Williams, Arnold Kling), the members of the '200-Proof Liberals' blog - successor to the now-defunct 'Bleeding Heart Libertarians' blog (e.g. Jason Brennan, Chris Freiman, Kevin Vallier, Matt Zwolinski, Jacob Levy, Steve Horwitz, Sarah Skwire), as well as the 'Fifth Column' podcast (Kmele Foster, Michael Moynihan, Matt Welch) and writers at the magazine 'Reason' (e.g. Nick Gillespie, Robby Soave, Elizabeth Nolan Brown, Katherine Mangu-Ward, Peter Suderman, Ilya Somin, Eugene Volokh), and the anti-Trump libertarians at the new Substack 'The UnPopulist' (e.g. Shikha Dalmia, Cathy Young, Trevor Burrus, Aaron Ross Powell, Berny Belvedere, Radley Balko). The debates within Gene Epstein's Soho Forum and the Cato Institute's 'Cato Unbound' blog (although the latter is now defunct) are good venues for seeing the clash of ideas between libertarians & non-libertarians. (Note that I've excluded the paleolibertarians at the Ludwig von Mises Institute, the objectivists at the Ayn Rand Institute, and the left-libertarians at the Molinari Institute & C4SS since they seem to be more siloed in their echo chambers - although I'm fairly open to revising this opinion.)
(c) For critical insight on trends within progressivism, we often refer to liberal & centrist journalists who've criticized the biases of legacy-media outlets from within (e.g. Jonathan Chait, Adam Gopnik, George Packer, Graeme Wood, Damon Linker, James Bennet, Caitlin Flanagan, Megan McArdle, Pamela Paul, Josh Barro, Conor Friedersdorf, Jonathan Rauch, Shadi Hamid) and those who've moved to independent platforms like Substack (e.g. Andrew Sullivan, Matt Yglesias, Emily Yoffe, Freddie deBoer, Matt Taibbi, Jesse Singal, Katie Herzog, Zaid Jilani, Lee Fang). Many of these people signed the open letter against cancel culture in Harper's magazine back in July 2020. Left-leaning scholars who've broken with the progressive orthodoxy on some key issues (e.g. Camille Paglia, Kathleen Stock, Anne Applebaum, Mark Lilla, Scott Galloway, Richard Reeves) also fit into this loose intellectual cluster, as do the advocates of the "Abundance Agenda" (e.g. Ezra Klein, Derek Thompson, Steven Teles, Jerusalem Demsas, Marc Dunkelman, Binyamin & Yoni Applebaum, Misha Chellam).
(d) For critiques of trends within both conservatism & progressivism, we often look to the scholars at the Heterodox Academy (e.g. Jonathan Haidt, John Tomasi, Nadine Strossen, Musa al-Gharbi, Lee Jussim, Phil Tetlock, Scott Lilienfeld, Alice Dreger, Allison Stenger, Nicholas Christakis, Eric Smith, Sean Stevens, Yascha Mounck, Eric Kaufmann) and the moderate "enlightened centrist" faction of what used to be called the "Intellectual Dark Web", e.g. Sam Harris, Steven Pinker, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Sarah Haider, Douglas Murray, Claire Lehmann, Helen Pluckrose, Peter Boghossian, Glenn Loury, John McWhorter, Coleman Hughes, and the various other writers & editors at media outlets like 'Quillette' and 'Areo Magazine' (although the latter is now defunct). Some other heterodox pundits like Bill Maher, Razib Khan, Richard Hanania, Meghan Daum, Debra Soh, Melissa Chen, Meghan Murphy, Konstantin Kisin, Michael Shellenberger, Freddie Sayers, Winston Marshall, Bari Weiss, Nellie Bowles - as well as other writers at 'Unherd' and 'The Free Press' - could be considered the successors to the IDW. (Note I've excluded some of the former IDW members like Dave Rubin, Jordan Peterson, Brett & Eric Weinstein, and Maajid Nawaz since they appeared to go off the rails amid the COVID pandemic & 2020 election due to "audience capture" and knee-jerk contrarianism. I've also excluded Joe Rogan due to his interest in pseudoscience & conspiracy theories, and Ben Shapiro is excluded because he seems more like a garden-variety conservative pundit.)
(e) For critical insight on trends within the emerging "bipartisan populist" sphere, we may refer to some members of the new think tank 'American Compass' (e.g. Oren Cass, Chris Griswold, Abigail Ball), writers at Julius Krein's journal 'American Affairs' (e.g. Michael Lind, David P. Goldman, Joel Kotkin), the strange bedfellows at Sohrab Amari's magazine 'Compact' (e.g. Edwin Aponte, Patrick Deneen, Matthew Schmitz, Geoff Shullenberger, Alex Gutentag, Adam Lehrer, Michael Tracey), so-called "reactionary feminists" who criticize both unrestrained capitalism & the sexual revolution (e.g. Mary Harrington, Louise Perry, Nina Power, Helen Andrews, Ashley Frawley), and several "post-left" writers formerly affiliated with the "Dirtbag Left" (e.g. Amber A'Lee Frost, Angela Nagle, Aimee Terese, Oliver Bateman, Malcolm Kyeyune). We could also refer to the 'Breaking Points' online news show headed by Krystal Ball & Saagar Enjeti (with co-hosts Emily Jashinsky & Ryan Grim; and their former 'Rising' co-hosts Kim Iversen & Batya Ungar-Sargon), Glenn Greenwald's post-Intercept output (e.g. the 'System Update' podcast), the writers at 'The Liberal Patriot' blog (Ruy Teixeria, John Halpin, Michael Bahareen), as well as some of the journalists at the socialist magazine 'Jacobin' who are partly sympathetic to populism (e.g. Jennifer Pan, Dustin Guastella, Paul Prescod). This loosely defined intellectual space is still evolving from conversations between anti-woke "class-first socialists" and "post-liberal conservatives" and is less ideologically coherent right now, although it has similarities to earlier Third Way ideologues like producerism and communitarianism. In some cases, figures in this movement have taken positions at odds with the core tenets of classical liberalism, but the left-right dialogue seems to be moderating some of their stances. (The comedians-turned-pundits Jimmy Dore & Russell Brand might fit into this space, as would Tucker Carlson, but I've excluded them as they've all promoted conspiracy theories so - like some of the former IDW members I listed above - they don't help us toward a rational view of politics. There's a similar problem with Anna Khachiyan & Dasha Nekrasova's 'Red Scare' podcast - they're too uninformed on policy & prone to knee-jerk contrarianism for shock value. The "MAGA Communism" guys have a similar problem.)
-- The common feature among all of the new media projects & public intellectuals listed above is that they are openly critical of intellectual blindspots & bad ideas coming from both the left & right, although most of them are not always *equally* aware or critical of problems on both sides of the political spectrum.
(7) In order to do our part combatting political polarization, we borrow ideas from a range of organizations that are currently working on enabling mutual understanding & civil dialogue, such as David Blankenhorn's Braver Angels project, Frank Burton's Circle of Reason, Alexandra Hudson's Civic Renaissance, Liz Joyner's Village Square, Joan Blades' Living Room Conversations, John Gable's AllSides team, David Nevins & Debilyn Molineaux's Bridge Alliance, Lisa Swallow & Kareem Abdelsadek's Crossing Party Lines, Tim Dixon & Gemma Mortensen's More In Common project, David Brooks's Social Fabric Project (a.k.a. Weave), Michael Smerconish's The Mingle Project, Charles Wheelan's Centrist Project (now called "Unite America"), Irshad Manji's Moral Courage Project, the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism (FAIR), and others.
Upcoming events
16
Cato Institute Event: "Reforming Childcare Policy"
·OnlineOnlineEvent Title:
"From Red Tape to Real Choice: Reforming Childcare Policy"Registering for the Online Event:
To register for and watch this FREE event, go to: https://www.cato.org/events/red-tape-real-choice-reforming-childcare-policyYou can also watch it live on Vimeo - https://vimeo.com/1218006647
NOTE: You can submit questions in the comment box on the Cato Institute's event page. For event updates, follow @CatoInstitute on X. If you have questions about the event or your registration, please email events@cato.org.
Event Description:
Childcare is expensive, and proposed policy solutions too often involve increased government spending without addressing the underlying costs. Alex J. Adams, assistant secretary for family support at the US Department of Health and Human Services, will discuss the current state of childcare policy and his efforts to expand childcare choices for families. Previously, as Idaho’s director of health and welfare, Adams led a comprehensive regulatory review that helped make Idaho a national model for childcare freedom. Economist Anna Claire Flowers, coauthor of the State Childcare Regulations Index, will discuss research on how reducing regulatory burdens can expand childcare options and lower costs for families.About the Speakers:
* Alex J. Adams is the Assistant Secretary for Family Support leading the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the US Department of Health and Human Services. He holds a Master of Public Health (MPH) from Johns Hopkins.
* Anna Claire Flowers is an Assistant Professor of Economics at Berry College and a Family Policy Fellow at the Archbridge Institute. She holds a PhD in Economics from George Mason University.
* Chelsea Follett is a Research Fellow at the Cato Institute'sCenter for Global Liberty & Prosperity, as well as the managing editor of HumanProgress.org. She's also a mother of four who has studied how to make raising children more affordable. She holds a MA in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia.About the Cato Institute:
Founded in 1976, the Cato Institute is a libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. The institute advocates for free market economic policies, protection of civil liberties, criminal justice reform, and a non-interventionist foreign policy. It publishes the annual "Human Freedom Index" that ranks countries based on their levels of personal & economic freedoms, and it hosts cross-partisan discussions monthly at "Cato Unbound". To learn more, go to https://www.cato.org/about.............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
1 attendee
Bi-Weekly Discussion - Is There a Case for (Cautious) Climate Optimism?
·OnlineOnlineThis is going to be an online meetup using Zoom. If you've never used Zoom before, don't worry — it's easy to use and free to join.
Click on the link above at the scheduled date/time to log in...
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IS THERE A CASE FOR (CAUTIOUS) CLIMATE OPTIMISM:
CAN WE STILL AVERT CATASTROPHIC CLIMATE CHANGE WITHOUT "DEGROWTH" BY QUICKLY TRANSITIONING TO 100% RENEWABLE ENERGY?INTRODUCTION:
In this meetup, we'll discuss how advances in solar panels, wind turbines, batteries, electric vehicles have excited economists and technology experts, many of whom now think we may be able to avert catastrophic climate change later in the 21st century without resorting to "degrowth" policies that make everyone poorer. Instead of linking several short videos under each section, I'm just asking our members to watch this 80-minute talk between The NY Times journalist Ezra Klein and the environmentalist Bill McKibben about his new book Here Comes the Sun and how it sheds some light on these current debates:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogAZS7_RhhA* Note: You can also read an edited transcript of their discussion here - https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/10/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-bill-mckibben.html - or an archived copy here - https://archive.ph/OTedv
[insert Bill McKibben bio]
McKibben's latest book is titled Here Comes the Sun: A Last Chance for the Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization (2025). According to the publisher's blurb, it "tells the story of the sudden spike in power from the sun and wind―and the desperate fight of the fossil fuel industry and their politicians to hold this new power at bay. From the everyday citizens who installed solar panels equal to a third of Pakistan’s electric grid in a year to the world’s sixth-largest economy―California―nearly halving its use of natural gas in the last two years, Bill McKibben traces the arrival of plentiful, inexpensive solar energy. And he shows how solar power is more than just a path out of the climate crisis: it is a chance to reorder the world on saner and more humane grounds. You can’t hoard solar energy or hold it in reserves ― it’s available to all. There’s no guarantee we can make this change in time, but there is a hope ― in McKibben’s eyes, our best hope for a new civilization: one that looks up to the sun, every day, as the star that fuels our world."
In this 1st section of this meetup, we'll discuss the first 5 sections of the talk (after the brief intro) entitled "Costco renewable energy has arrived", "Free electricity in Australia", "Battery innovation", "Global energy landscape" and "The new possibilities" which goes up to almost the 34:00 mark. These sections mostly deal with debates over the possibilities created by recent technological developments.
In the 2nd section, we'll skip ahead anddiscuss the section entitled "Global warming acceleration" that runs from about 41:00 to 47:00. This section focuses on differing projections from climate scientists and predictions of climate-related damage by environmental economists, with the implication that faster warming & more severe near-term damages requires a faster clean energy transition.
In the 3rd section, we'll discuss the sections of the talk entitled "Climate backlash during the Trump era", "The state of climate politics", "Political lessons for this moment", "Implementing the clean energy future" and "Is solarpunk the future of the left?" that stretch from 34:00 to about 80:00, but notice that I've broken out the topics of global warming acceleration and U.S. tariffs on China into separate sections. The remaining sections mostly deal with political barriers to a rapid clean energy transition, such as the fossil fuel industry lobbyists who push the GOP to block any taxes or regulations that would hurt their industry, as well as the NIMBYs in blue states that lead to endless hearings & red tape that holds up clean energy projects.
In the 4th section, we'll discuss the section entitled "Were U.S. tariffs on China a mistake?" that runs from about 57:00 to 62:00. This section focuses on the complex links between foreign policy, trade policy and climate policy, but the main question is fairly straightforward, i.e. can the U.S. achieve a rapid clean energy transition without relying on Chinese imports?
RELEVANT MATERIAL FROM PAST MEETUPS:
In Sept. 2025, we had a meetup entitled "Is the U.S. Facing an Energy Crisis?" We discussed: (1) how geopolitical turmoil has driven a push for "energy independence" that often neglects critical inputs, (2) the California & Texas grid failures of 2020-2021 and risks of a broader energy crisis in the near future, (3) debates over the Biden administration's push for renewable energy & attempts to phase out fossil fuels, (4) debate over the 2nd Trump administration's renewed focus on fossil fuels and deemphasizing renewable energy.
Back in August 2025, Braver Angels hosted a debate over whether nuclear power is necessary to mitigate climate change. A video clip posted in the comments sections summarizes some of the pro & con arguments made.
Back in April 2025, we had a meetup entitled "Can 'Abundance Liberalism' Save the Democrats?" where we looked at arguments made in Ezra Klein & Derek Thompson's new book Abundance (2025) for why blue states have allowed NIMBYism and red tape to get in the way of efforts to build solar panel & wind farms, EV charging stations, and high-speed rail. Unfortunately, as we discussed, much of the progressive punditry opposes the reforms advocated by the "Abundance agenda" and may make this a political non-starter, at least in the near term.
Way back in June 2019, we had a meetup entitled "How Should We Deal With Climate Change?" where we discussed how economists have worked with climate scientists to estimate the economic damages that various levels of warming could cause, and how we could rapidly transition to low-carbon energy production. For our discussion on energy policy, the most pertinent part of the climate change meetup was the 2nd section where we looked at various plans like James Baker & George Scultz's "carbon tax & dividends" plan which involves using a carbon tax to nudge us towards renewable energy while funding a payout to consumers to offset a rise in gas prices & electric bills, the progressive Democrats' "Green New Deal" which connects Keynesian economic stimulus and "green jobs" with renewable energy build-out, and the more radical "de-growth" policies that entail putting an end to consumerism, suburban living in single-family homes, and private car ownership in favor of spartan living conditions in eco-friendly urban high-rises & mass transit.
Also back in June of 2019, the Skeptics meetup hosted a discussion entitled "Do We Need Nuclear Power, Biofuels & Fracking to Address Climate Change?" They looked at the limits of solar & wind energy due to problems with intermittency & energy storage, and why many scientists are proposing to expand nuclear power & biofuels, and in some cases even endorse fracking for natural gas as a "bridge technology" to reduce coal & oil burning while we build up renewable energy capacity.
DIRECTIONS ON HOW TO PREPARE FOR OUR DISCUSSION:
The videos & articles you see linked below are intended to give you a basic overview of some of the major debates over the implications of the renewable energy revolution for both climate change and the economy. As usual, I certainly don't expect you to read all the articles prior to attending our discussion. The easiest way to prepare for our discussion is to just watch the video of Klein & McKibben's talk linked above The articles marked with asterisks are just there to supply additional details. You can browse and look at whichever ones you want, but don't worry - we'll cover the stuff you missed in our discussion.
In terms of the discussion format, my general idea is that we'll address the topics in the order presented here. I've listed some questions under each section to stimulate discussion. We'll do our best to address most of them, as well as whatever other questions our members raise. I figure we'll spend about 30 minutes on each section.
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I. UNDERSTANDING THE CLEAN ENERGY REVOLUTION & ITS POSSIBILITIES:
- SECTION 1, QUESTION 1: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
- SECTION 1, QUESTION 2: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
- SECTION 1, QUESTION 3: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
- SECTION 1, QUESTION 4: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
- SECTION 1, QUESTION 5: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
- Alex Trembath, "The SolarFix Is In: On 'Sun Day' and Bill McKibben’s Narrow Techno-Optimism"
https://thebreakthrough.org/issues/energy/the-solarfix-is-in - Ted Nordhaus, "How Bill McKibben Lost the Plot: A new book by the high priest of the climate movement reads like the end of an era"
https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/how-bill-mckibben-lost-the-plot - Paul Fleckenstein, "Stopping Climate Change Will Never Be 'Good Business' - Climate activist and writer Bill McKibben's new book is an excellent account of how urgent the climate crisis in front of us is. But it stumbles in trying to prescribe green capitalist solutions to a problem that requires systematic change.”
https://jacobin.com/2019/07/falter-bill-mckibben-350org-review - ARTICLE 5 - XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
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II. UNDERSTANDING THE SPEED & SEVERITY OF CLIMATE CHANGE:
- SECTION 2, QUESTION 1: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
- SECTION 2, QUESTION 2: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
- SECTION 2, QUESTION 3: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
- SECTION 2, QUESTION 4: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
- SECTION 2, QUESTION 5: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
- James E. Hansen, et al., "Global Warming Has Accelerated: Are the United Nations and the Public Well-Informed?"
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00139157.2025.2434494#abstract - Claude Beaulieu, et al., "A recent surge in global warming is not detectable yet"
https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-024-01711-1 - Paul Voosen, "Shifting Currents: After decades of warnings, new data suggest the Atlantic Ocean’s vital circulation may withstand climate warming better than feared"
https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.aej5876 - Michael Shellenberger, "Why Apocalyptic Claims About Climate Change Are Wrong" (Forbes)
https://archive.ph/ceKOS - Robert McSweeney, et al., "Factcheck: Trump’s false claims about the IPCC and ‘RCP8.5’ climate scenario"
https://www.carbonbrief.org/factcheck-trumps-false-claims-about-the-ipcc-and-rcp8-5-climate-scenario
III. UNDERSTANDING THE POLITICAL BARRIERS ON THE RIGHT & LEFT TO A RAPID CLEAN ENERGY TRANSITION:
- SECTION 3, QUESTION 1: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
- SECTION 3, QUESTION 2: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
- SECTION 3, QUESTION 3: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
- SECTION 3, QUESTION 4: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
- SECTION 3, QUESTION 5: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
- Christina Cauterucci w/ Bill McKibben, "The Old Climate-Activism Playbook No Longer Works. What Else Can?" (NY Times)
https://archive.ph/o8FaK - Timothy W. Luke, "Climate Change Deniers versus Climate Change Decriers: The Pragmatics of Climate Defense in the Age of Disinformation"
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1061&context=fastcapitalism - Peter K. Busmen, et al., "Strategic Gestures in Bill McKibben's Climate Change Rhetoric"
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/communication/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2019.00040/full - Bruce Ledewitz, "Bill McKibben Proves Me Right on Campaign
Finance, Though He Probably Doesn’t Agree"
https://dsc.duq.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2001&context=ledewitz-hallowedsecularism - ARTICLE 3 - XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX - ARTICLE 4 - XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
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IV. UNDERSTANDING HOW US-CHINA RIVALRY COMPLICATES THE CLEAN ENERGY TRANSITION:
- SECTION 4, QUESTION 1: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
- SECTION 4, QUESTION 2: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
- SECTION 4, QUESTION 3: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
- SECTION 4, QUESTION 4: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
- SECTION 4, QUESTION 5: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
- Kent Clark Forum, "[China] Tariffs, [Solar Panel] Technology, and Growth" (poll of top economists, Dec. 2024)
https://kentclarkcenter.org/surveys/tariffs-technology-and-growth/ - Kent Clark Forum, "Tariffs on Chinese Electric Vehicles" (poll of top economists, Mar. 2024)
https://kentclarkcenter.org/surveys/tariffs-on-chinese-electric-vehicles/ - Noah Smith, "China is quietly saving the world from climate change"
https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/china-is-quietly-saving-the-world - Seaver Wang, Ted Norah's & Vijaya Ramachandran, "Greenwashing With Chinese Characteristics: China's 'Green Electrostate' Is Neither"
https://thebreakthrough.org/issues/energy/greenwashing-with-chinese-characteristics - Quillan Robinson, "The True Cost of Chinese Solar Panels"
https://time.com/6564184/chinese-solar-panels-cost/ - Noah Gordon, "How the U.S.-China Trade War Could Derail the Energy Transition: Clean or dirty, the U.S. energy industry likely will be hard-hit."
https://carnegieendowment.org/emissary/2025/04/us-china-trade-war-tariffs-critical-minerals-clean-energy-impacts - Noah Smith, "Let the Chinese [electric] cars in: There's a way to do it so that the benefits outweigh the costs."
https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/let-the-chinese-cars-in - Stephen Ezell, "Don’t Let Chinese EV Makers Manufacture in the United States"
https://itif.org/publications/2025/09/17/dont-let-chinese-ev-makers-manufacture-in-the-united-states/
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Commonwealth Club Event: "In the Realm of the Last Man"
·OnlineOnlineJoin the Commonwealth Club of California on Sept. 16, 2026 to a discussion on Francis Fukuyama's new book, In the Realm of the Last Man.
HOW TO WATCH:
This event is $10 for online tickets, and you must register at the link below, at which point you'll be emailed a link to the online event - https://commonwealthclub.my.salesforce-sites.com/ticket/#/instances/a0FVb00000GLT7RMAXEVENT DESCRIPTION:
Francis Fukuyama, a leading public intellectual—including repeated popular appearances at the Club—is well-known for his significant, bestselling works of political philosophy and history. Now, for the first time, he examines his own political and intellectual evolution across five transformative decades.In his new memoir, In the Realm of the Last Man, Fukuyama invites us to follow him from the circle of students around the conservative intellectual Allan Bloom at Cornell, into the halls of power in Washington and at the RAND Corporation, and into private conversations with world leaders from Muammar Qaddhafi to China’s powerful elite. Fukuyama touches on his family’s story, including his relatives’ internment during World War II along with other Japanese Americans. And, in surprisingly personal terms, he reflects on the experiences that led him to reevaluate his own thinking, most notably his dramatic public break with the neoconservative movement over the invasion of Iraq.
Join us as Francis Fukuyama returns to the Commonwealth Club World Affairs stage to share his look at his own personal history as political history―the story of a life that illuminates the troubled fate of democracy and liberalism over the last 50 years. Returning to and developing the concepts that have been central to his work―recognition, thymos, trust, identity, human nature, institutions, and the Last Man―Fukuyama brings the depth and richness of personal experience and pathbreaking scholarship to illuminate the crises of the 21st century.
Come see how a major thinker grapples in real time with the convulsions of history—and looks ahead to our possible future.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER & MODERATOR:
- Francis Fukuyama is a political scientists and the Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. He is author of The End of History and the Last Man (1992), The Origins of Political Order (2011), Political Order and Political Decay (2014), Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment (2018), Liberalism and its Discontents (2022), and now In the Realm of the Last Man (2026).
- Tim Anaya, the moderator, is the Vice President of Marketing and Communications at the Pacific Research Institute and former member of the California State Assembly. He's also the co-author of The California Left Coast Survivor's Guide (2024). He holds a MBA from the University of Southern California and a BS in Political Science from Santa Clara University.
ABOUT THE EVENT HOST:
The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. Every year, they present more than 450 forums on topics ranging across politics, culture, society and the economy. Their stated mission is to be the leading national forum open to all for the impartial discussion of public issues important to the membership, community and nation. To learn more, go to: https://www.commonwealthclub.org/who-we-are
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Bi-Weekly Discussion - Is the U.S. Facing an Energy Crisis?
·OnlineOnlineThis is going to be an online meetup using Zoom. If you've never used Zoom before, don't worry — it's easy to use and free to join.
Click on the link above at the scheduled date/time to log in...
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IS THE U.S. FACING AN ENERGY CRISIS - AND IF SO, WHAT'S THE SOLUTION?
INTRODUCTION:
This discussion serves as a follow-up to one we had last summer entitled "Understanding the 'Chip War' & 'AI Race' Between the U.S. and China" where we noted that the U.S. has a huge lead over China in the sheer number of data centers needed to power A.I., but many experts are concerned about the strains that these data centers are placing on the U.S. electrical grid. It also follows up on some questions we touched upon in our March meetup entitled "Understanding the US-Iran War", namely the impact of Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz on global oil prices. Some are even warning that increased demand for electricity from other sources like EV charging stations, cryptocurrency mining operations, reshoring of energy-intensive manufacturing (e.g. auto factories, chemical plants, steel mills, semiconductor fabs), and the shift from coal, oil & gas furnaces to electric heat pumps may be leading the U.S. towards a near-term energy crisis. So how concerned should we be, and how can an energy crisis be avoided?
To answer this question, we'll review the recent history of energy crises and their causes, and see if this can give us some insight into where we're headed. We'll also analyze how economic & political forces at the international, national, and state levels shape energy policy for better or worse...
In the 1st section, we'll briefly review the causes of the post-COVID "global energy crisis" that stretched from 2021 to 2023 which was exacerbated by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. We'll then discuss how this crisis and the specter of geopolitical turmoil in the near future (particularly tensions with China) has produced a new push for the U.S. to become "energy independent" (i.e. a net exporter of oil & natural gas). However, being a net oil exporter overlooks the fact that the U.S. must still import most of its oil, since the our refinery capacity is limited and the oil we produce via fracking is too "light" (low viscosity) and "sweet" (low sulfur content), whereas our refineries are still designed for the heavier, "sour" oil from the Middle East, Canada & Mexico - and retooling them would cost billions. And while the need for rare earth minerals for many components in our green energy infrastructure is now widely discussed, we'll also see how talk of "energy independence" often overlook the importance of "re-shoring" (or at least "near-shoring" or "friend-shoring") the manufacturing of critical inputs for domestic energy production, transmission & storage (e.g. solar panels, wind turbines, natural gas turbines, transformers, lithium-ion batteries).
In the 2nd section, we'll take a look back at the electrical grid failures in California in the summer of 2020 and Texas in the winter of 2021, and then discuss the additional strains on the gird mentioned above in the opening paragraph that could potentially overwhelm the U.S. electrical grid. We'll assess whether this could lead to a broader energy crisis in the near future if we don't build a lot more power stations (whether that's renewables, nuclear, or natural gas) and a more robust grid. As we'll see, most experts suggest building more high-voltage direct current (HVDC) lines for long-distance transmission tied into local "smart grids" that improve reliability & efficiency.
In the 3rd section, we'll look back at the debates over the Biden administration's energy policies, particularly the "Inflation Reduction Act" (IRA) which included clean energy tax credits and investments in clean energy manufacturing as well as targets for greenhouse gas emission reductions, as well as the "Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act" (IIJA) which included $65 billion allocated to upgrade the electric power grid and invest in clean energy transmission and $7.5 billion to build out a national network of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations. Proponents saw Biden's policies as a somewhat scaled-down version of the "Green New Deal" and hoped they would boost the economy through stimulus spending while speeding the U.S. towards a goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Critics argued that Biden's policies were attempting to phase out fossil fuels well before renewable could pick up the slack and would hurt the economy through higher energy prices and needlessly prolong the impact of the "global energy crisis" on the U.S.
In the 4th section, we'll look at more recent debates over the 2nd Trump administration's energy policies, particularly his executive actions like EO 14154 ("Unleashing American Energy") that aimed to boosts fossil fuel production by reviewing and removing what the administration considers "burdensome" regulations and EO 14156 ("Declaring a National Energy Emergency") that declared a national energy emergency to expedite the production of domestic energy resources. There's also the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" (OBBBA) which repealed clean energy tax credits created by the IRA, and included measures to expand oil, gas, and coal production, such as mandating lease sales in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico, lowering royalties for coal mining, and providing tax breaks for oil and gas producers. Proponents see Trump's policies as pushing the U.S. towards increased energy independence while creating good-paying blue-collar jobs in the fossil fuel industry, while critics argued this was abandoning not only the U.S. commit to combating climate change but also ceding the future of renewable energy to China.
NOTE: One related issue we won't cover is "energy grid security", i.e. protecting our electrical grid & pipelines from natural disasters like hurricanes, as well as from physical attacks (e.g. the Metcalf power station attack of 2013) and cyberattacks (e.g. the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack of 2021) from either terrorists or state actors. We may cover this important topic at a later date if there's sufficient interest.
RELEVANT MATERIAL FROM PAST MEETUPS:
Back in August, Braver Angels hosted a debate over whether nuclear power is necessary to mitigate climate change. A video clip posted in the comments sections summarizes some of the pro & con arguments made.
Back in April, we had a meetup entitled "Can 'Abundance Liberalism' Save the Democrats?" where we looked at arguments made in Ezra Klein & Derek Thompson's new book Abundance (2025) for why blue states have allowed NIMBYism and red tape to get in the way of efforts to build solar panel & wind farms, EV charging stations, and high-speed rail. Unfortunately, much of the progressive punditry opposes the reforms advocated by the "Abundance agenda" and may make this a political non-starter, at least in the near term.
Way back in June 2019, we had a meetup entitled "How Should We Deal With Climate Change?" where we discussed how economists have worked with climate scientists to estimate the economic damages that various levels of warming could cause, and how we could rapidly transition to low-carbon energy production. For our discussion on energy policy, the most pertinent part of the climate change meetup was the 2nd section where we looked at various plans like James Baker & George Scultz's "carbon tax & dividends" plan which involves using a carbon tax to nudge us towards renewable energy while funding a payout to consumers to offset a rise in gas prices & electric bills, the progressive Democrats' "Green New Deal" which connects Keynesian economic stimulus and "green jobs" with renewable energy build-out, and the more radical "de-growth" policies that entail putting an end to consumerism, suburban living in single-family homes, and private car ownership in favor of spartan living conditions in eco-friendly urban high-rises & mass transit.
Also back in June of 2019, the Skeptics meetup hosted a discussion entitled "Do We Need Nuclear Power, Biofuels & Fracking to Address Climate Change?" They looked at the limits of solar & wind energy due to problems with intermittency & energy storage, and why many scientists are proposing to expand nuclear power & biofuels, and in some cases even endorse fracking for natural gas as a "bridge technology" to reduce coal burning while we build up renewable energy capacity.
DIRECTIONS ON HOW TO PREPARE FOR OUR DISCUSSION:
The videos & articles you see linked below are intended to give you a basic overview of some of the major debates over U.S. energy policy and the prospects of a near-term energy crisis. As usual, I certainly don't expect you to read all the articles prior to attending our discussion. The easiest way to prepare for our discussion is to just watch the numbered videos linked under each section - the videos come to about 60 minutes total. The articles marked with asterisks are just there to supply additional details. You can browse and look at whichever ones you want, but don't worry - we'll cover the stuff you missed in our discussion.
In terms of the discussion format, my general idea is that we'll address the topics in the order presented here. I've listed some questions under each section to stimulate discussion. We'll do our best to address most of them, as well as whatever other questions our members raise. I figure we'll spend about 30 minutes on each section.
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I. HOW GEOPOLITICAL TURMOIL HAS DRIVEN A PUSH FOR "ENERGY INDEPENDENCE" THAT OFTEN NEGLECTS CRITICAL INPUTS:
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1a) TLDR News Global, "No, the US Isn't “Energy Independent'" (video - 8:38 min, listen to 7:24)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlSdf849o8w1b) Inside China Business, "Another casualty of the trade wars: now we don't have enough transformers [and gas turbines]" (video - 5:48 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xj2VjEJh62g- Sean Fleming, "Lessons for the energy transition from the 2021 energy crisis"
https://www.weforum.org/stories/2021/10/energy-transition-risks-crisis/ - Jamie Webster, et al., "Lessons in Energy Resilience from the War in Ukraine"
https://www.bcg.com/publications/2023/lessons-from-energy-crisis-due-to-war-in-ukraine - Arianna Skibell, "Energy independence is a myth. Candidates don’t care."
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/power-switch/2024/04/29/energy-independence-is-a-myth-candidates-dont-care-00154959 - Nicole Jao, "US refiners mull switch to alternative lighter crudes amid Trump tariff fears"
https://archive.ph/lBJUV - Ellen Wald, "The US wants to end its reliance on Chinese lithium. Its policies [i.e. IRA regs] are doing the opposite."
https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/the-us-wants-to-end-its-reliance-on-chinese-lithium-its-policies-are-doing-the-opposite/ - USA Facts Team, "How much of America’s clean energy infrastructure is built in the US? The US lost 80% of its global solar market share from 2009 to 2019."
https://usafacts.org/articles/how-much-of-americas-clean-energy-infrastructure-is-built-in-the-us/ - Noah Smith, "Yes, reshoring American industry [like solar panels & batteries] is possible"
https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/yes-reshoring-american-industry-is - Akshat Rathi, et al., "The Device Throttling the World's Electrified Future: A shortage of transformers is causing delays to power projects everywhere, holding trillion-dollar industries hostage—and that was before tariffs."
https://archive.ph/d0GL8 - Rebecca F. Elliott, "Why a Plane-Size Machine Could Foil a Race to Build Gas Power Plants: Wait times for the hulking turbines needed to turn natural gas into electricity have doubled in the past year as companies scramble to build data centers for A.I."
https://archive.ph/1OJtE
II. THE CALIFORNIA & TEXAS GRID FAILURES OF 2020-2021 & RISKS OF AN AMERICAN ENERGY CRISIS IN THE NEAR FUTURE:
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2a) Reason, "How California's Environmental Mandates Led to Blackouts [in Aug. 2020]" (video - 9:44 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X39W1U3Oqps2b) Vox, "Texas's power disaster [in Feb. 2021] is a warning sign for the US" (video - 7:05 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zcrsgdl_hP02c) CBS w/ Nick Thompson, "Why America's power grid is being rebuilt for the age of AI" (video - 6:15 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPc1wy1j4PM- American Energy Alliance, "Renewable Energy Mandates Increase Chances Of Major Blackouts [like in California & Texas]"
https://www.americanenergyalliance.org/2024/03/renewable-energy-mandates-increase-chances-of-major-blackouts/ - Dana Nucitelli, "How mismanagement, not wind and solar energy, causes blackouts"
https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2024/09/how-mismanagement-not-wind-and-solar-energy-causes-blackouts/ - Sonal Patel, "Five Critical Insights from NERC’s 2024 Long-Term Reliability Assessment"
https://www.powermag.com/five-critical-insights-from-nercs-2024-long-term-reliability-assessment/ - Nick Lichtenberg, "More outages, aging infrastructure, and a bicoastal dysfunction: BofA warns America’s grid is 30%-46% ‘beyond its useful life’"
https://archive.ph/xij7e - Aurora Almendral, The US is laying new power lines too slowly for its renewables transition: Growth in US power transmission lines has dropped from an already meager 1.5% to 1% over the last five years"
https://qz.com/the-us-is-laying-new-power-lines-too-slowly-for-its-ren-1850326951 - Jillian McKoy, "Inefficient Building Electrification [i.e. Heat Pumps] Risks Prolonging Fossil Fuels"
https://www.bu.edu/sph/news/articles/2022/inefficient-building-electrification-risks-prolonging-fossil-fuels/ - Andres Picon, "Why Electric Vehicles Won’t Break the Grid: Though conservatives have attacked California officials for asking electric vehicle owners to unplug during a heat wave, experts say more electric cars won’t topple the power grid"
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-electric-vehicles-wont-break-the-grid/ - Justine Calma, "How much energy will new semiconductor factories burn through in the US?"
https://www.theverge.com/2024/3/6/24091367/semiconductor-manufacturing-us-electricity-consumption-renewable-energy-report - Robert Walton, "Bitcoin mining as a grid resource [or liability]? ‘It’s complicated.’"
https://www.utilitydive.com/news/bitcoin-mining-as-a-grid-resource-its-complicated/617896/ - Matteo Wong, "The False AI Energy Crisis: Donald Trump and AI executives alike have sounded the alarm about a looming AI-driven energy shortage. Both benefit from the concern."
https://archive.ph/UCbsf
III. DEBATE OVER BIDEN ADMINISTRATION'S PUSH FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY & ATTEMPTS TO PHASE OUT FOSSIL FUELS:
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3a) CNBC w/ Helima Croft, "The acid test for President Joe Biden's energy policy is if it gets you to net-zero by 2050" (video - 4:27 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvT5w_r67iM3b) Steve Forbes, "Why Biden’s Thinking On Energy Is Flawed And Possibly Deadly" (video - 3:41 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPyhgaz4Pjc- Kent Clark Forum, "Subsidizing Green Technology" (poll of top economists, Sept. 2023)
https://kentclarkcenter.org/surveys/subsidizing-green-technology/ - Kent Clark Forum, "[Subsidizing] Electric Vehicles" (poll of top economists, July 2022)
https://kentclarkcenter.org/surveys/electric-vehicles/ - Kent Clark Forum, "Oil Industry Taxes" (poll of top economists, Mar. 2022)
https://kentclarkcenter.org/surveys/oil-industry-taxes/ - Brian Kennedy, et al., Pew Research Poll: "Majorities of Americans Prioritize Renewable Energy, Back Steps to Address Climate Change: But many foresee problems ahead with transition to renewables and oppose breaking from fossil fuels altogether"
https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2023/06/28/majorities-of-americans-prioritize-renewable-energy-back-steps-to-address-climate-change/ - Ben Lefebvre, "The ‘all of the above’ energy success that’s causing Biden headaches: The U.S. is producing record amounts of oil, natural gas and renewables, but it turns out not many people really want an 'all of the above' energy economy."
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/03/27/bidens-uneasy-energy-empire-00147449 - Tyler Cowen, "We Need Green Energy. We Don’t Need Green Jobs: There’s no reason renewable technologies have to be labor-intensive. That will only drive up costs and turn off consumers."
https://archive.ph/1yILU#selection-2919.0-2925.122 - Alex Guillen & Ben Lefebve, "What the right’s gas stove freakout was really about [i.e. city and state gas bans]"
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/01/14/joe-biden-gas-stoves-00077944 - Travis Fisher, "Americans Pay the Price of the Biden-Harris Energy Agenda"
https://www.cato.org/testimony/gas-groceries-americans-pay-price-biden-harris-energy-agenda
IV. DEBATE OVER 2nd TRUMP ADMINISTRATION'S RENEWED FOCUS ON FOSSIL FUELS & DEEMPHASIZING RENEWABLE ENERGY:
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4a) Bloomberg, "Will Trump’s Plan to Lower Gasoline Prices Actually Pay Off?" (video - 8:47 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Byf4HjX6Iw4b) Forbes, "What Donald Trump's Presidency Means For The Green Energy Sector" (video - 4:59 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cu6121Jna1c4c) Bloomberg, "Trump’s Plan for Venezuela’s Oil Industry" (video - 1:50 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGBbNgPNbiE- Kent Clark Forum, "Executive Orders on Energy and Climate" (poll of top economists, Feb. 2025)
https://kentclarkcenter.org/surveys/executive-orders-on-energy-and-climate/ - Kent Clark Forum, "Tariffs, [Solar Panel] Technology, and Growth" (poll of top economists, Dec. 2024)
https://kentclarkcenter.org/surveys/tariffs-technology-and-growth/ - Kent Clark Forum, "Tariffs on Chinese Electric Vehicles" (poll of top economists, Mar. 2024)
https://kentclarkcenter.org/surveys/tariffs-on-chinese-electric-vehicles/ - Kent Clark Forum, "Venezuela" (poll of top economists, Jan. 2026)
https://kentclarkcenter.org/surveys/venezuela-2/ - Kent Clark Forum, "Gas Prices [amid Iran War]" (poll of top economists, Mar. 2026)
https://kentclarkcenter.org/surveys/gas-prices/ - Brian Kennedy, et al., Pew Research Poll: "Americans’ Views on Energy at the Start of Trump’s Second Term: Republicans are far less supportive of renewable energy than during the first Trump administration"
https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2025/06/05/americans-views-on-energy-at-the-start-of-trumps-second-term/ - Zack Colman, "Trump is transforming the GOP’s energy policies — and not all conservatives are happy: Much like Joe Biden, President Donald Trump is wielding money and federal leverage to reshape the U.S. energy supply — but this time, it’s in support of fossil fuels."
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/07/22/republicans-free-market-energy-00465122 - Naveena Sadasivam, "How low oil prices turned Trump’s call to ‘drill, baby, drill’ into a pipe dream: Trump promised boom times for the U.S. oil industry. They're laying off staff and reducing spending instead."
https://grist.org/energy/oil-prices-trump-fossil-fuel-drilling/ - Noah Smith, "Would you rather have cheap energy, or stupid culture wars? Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill' is an attack on American energy production."
https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/would-you-rather-have-cheap-energy - Kenneth Schrupp, "Congress overturns California’s gas car ban impacting 11 states and D.C."
https://www.thecentersquare.com/california/article_d484081a-d036-4b68-964d-6d5085b81df8.html
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