does it seem fairly obvious to most people that alternative energy is the next 'tech boom'...

[dysfunctional press]

that could help pull the economy out of a total tailspin?
it's maddening to think of what might have been, if only the money that has been spent and has yet to be spent on the criminally insane war on iraq to secure it's oil reserves for our country's future energy needs and the oily companies' future profits had instead been used to develop alternatives to our reliance on dinosaur juice. and if there had not been a coup d'etat in 2000, it could have and probably would have started to happen under a president gore.
but that doesn't mean that it can't STILL happen. people WANT it to happen. i think that it could be one of the most important issue for democrats to run on in 2008, especially if they frame it in terms of a security issue, as well as an economically lucrative one that can produce good paying manufacturing and construction jobs. less/ZERO dependence on mideast oil means no pressing need for our troops to be there. or to get caught up in future problems, from saudi arabia to kazakhstan.
as well as framing it in terms of the urgent need to curtail fossil fuel emissions in terms of global climate change.

i personally think that universal healthcare and alternative energy are by far the two most important issues that we need to address. the only reason that 'national security' is even on the radar screen is because the good ol' military-industrial complex is using it's wholly-owned mainstream media division to keep the people scared into mindlessly supporting a state of constant military build-up and spending.

the people are more than ready, and chomping at the bit to take a completely different direction as a society, and they need and WANT a LEADER who's capable of taking the country in that new direction.

if we are able to use the horrors of the iraq war and all it has wrought across all levels and aspects of our society and economy to set a new national course, then nobody will have died in vain. it seems to be such a big issue to people that their loved ones deaths NOT be 'in vain' that it's used as an excuse to continue the killing and war-mongering.
the horrors of world war 2 changed the national psyches of germany and japan...it looked for awhile like vietnam might have the same kind of lasting affect on us- it didn't. hopefully iraq, abu ghraib, and guantanamo could have the same effect on us.

but it won't.

and i guess that i've rambled away from my original point- 'Alternative Energy' HAS to be an important part of the political discourse in this election season, and a primary focus of the next president's agenda.