The Greening of America

Al Gore, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Chuck Hagel, Mike Bloomberg, Sam Nunn, General Electric, Coca-Cola, DuPont, Johnson & Johnson, Nike, British Airways, Wall Street firms, venture capitalists galore, the Nobel Peace Prize Committee and the armies of the progressive Internet are all part of the greening of America that will transform our politics and business in ways that will astonish and amaze those who are left behind.

The greening of America is about the liberation of and inspiration for an America that will soon be de-Bushed, in which major changes are already advancing and the negativity surrounding Bush will be receding until it finally disappears into the dustbin of history and the real America re-emerges when he is gone from government for good.

The greening of America involves a mindset of politics, business, culture, entertainment, technology and patriotism that will liberate and energize an American spirit that will be Prometheus unbound from a status quo that American voters, consumers, investors and business have already left behind.

The greening of America is about change that brings an idealism, hope and opportunity to the center of American life that will be far more powerful and inspirational and exciting than our Bush-dominated debate suggests, when the darker forces he represents are removed, and the better angels of our nature are liberated, and the American idea, American ingenuity, and the notion of American Dreams are again restored to center stage, where they belong.

Global warming is merely one example as change advances with lenders, borrowers and government realizing that a wave of “Grapes of Wrath”-style foreclosures hurts everyone. There are signs of labor unions beginning serious talks with conservative businesses to deal with the healthcare crisis.

Mike Bloomberg dines with Chuck Hagel and breakfasts with Barack Obama, while Arnold Schwarzenegger calls for a post-partisan politics as the president and Congress compete for who will be the first to reach 80 percent unpopularity.

Global warming is at the cutting edge of the greening of America because it involves a wholesale transformation out of the oil-based economy with its ripoffs of consumers, unjust profits, massive pollutions and pressures for war, as well as a wholesale transformation into new energy that will improve every aspect of life for every citizen, in every nation of the world.

Global warming is a powerful catalyst for the greening of America because it is the first mega-post-partisan issue that brings together extraordinarily diverse viewpoints, involves gigantic profit-making opportunities from a sweeping business transformation, and dovetails with larger trends that are already advancing. Consider this:

Movie star Brad Pitt builds green homes in New Orleans while national security leaders warn of danger from climate change, Al Gore joins a premier venture capital firm and Arnold Schwarzenegger takes landmark action in California. Global conglomerates support major legislation, grassroots progressives mobilize and the entire NBC family broadcasts a week of spectacular television with features on the polar icecaps and analysts discussing New-energy stocks.

The Ozone Man is now an analyst for the CIA, warning about the dangers of global warming, a marketing strategist for DuPont, seeking major business opportunities for a new energy and conservation economy, and the programing director for NBC, doing a weeklong special on the dangers of the old oil economy and the opportunities of the new Renewable-energy economy.

It is very conceivable that the next leader of the free world will be a supporter of the greening of America, backed by a Congress that supports the greening of America, in a historic political transformation that will make the years of Bush look like a dark age of the past.

The next historic political realignment, comparable to the FDR coalition of the left and the Reagan coalition of the right, will be led by political leaders who recognize that the new post-partisan majority dwarfs the polarization deadlocking both parties today.

The next great fortunes of American business, comparable to the enormous wealth that was generated by building the transcontinental railroad and then the Internet age, will be made by those who seize the enormous profits generated by the seismic transition to a post-oil, post-pollution economy.

The next era of American global leadership, comparable to the rebuilding of democracy and prosperity in Europe after the Second World War, will begin with America rejoining the community of nations in a global campaign against climate change and culminate with the generation-long surge of American exports that will lift consumers and nations with new, clean, safe energy.

The greening of America will be driven by the liberation from the dark, divisive, negative, fear-ridden and backward status quo that is overwhelmingly rejected by a large majority of American voters, the heart and soul of Main Street, and the smartest minds on Wall Street.

The greening of America will be driven by the time-honored truth that the land of the free and home of the brave is more than the sum of its parts. We are more than a garrison state of warring factions told by small-minded leaders that we should be angry at each other, afraid of our future and alienated from the better angels of the American nature.

The greening of America has support today, in ways large and small, from average citizens determined to achieve change, from investors and entrepreneurs preparing to make great fortunes with products that will change the world, from the actors who rebuild homes, political leaders calling for post-partisan politics, and every company and individual named in this column.

As the greening of America unfolds, people will be astonished at the burst of optimisim and ingenuity that is beneath the surface of our public debates, which will define the future that is now.

It is a time for activism, engagement and winning the fight for change, and when it comes, it will begin a new period of optimism, hope and renewal that will thrill Americans and bring hope to the world.