Response to Call for New Nuclear Energy Policy

by augustin

Democracy Chronicles writer and Minguo participant Roger Copple, as one of his 27 policy initiatives, proposes:

Dismantle all nuclear weapons and nuclear power plants, simultaneously and voluntarily, the world over as soon as possible.

First of all, Roger Copple covers simultaneously civilian and military nuclear programs. For the purpose of our Community Manifesto initiative, I though it best to break this into two separate polls, dealing with, respectively military use and civilian use:

• What is your position on nuclear armament?.
• What is your position on nuclear energy?.

Within the above two polls, you have the opportunity to express your agreement or disagreement with the various parts of Copple’s policy proposal.

Regarding the dismantling of military nuclear stockpiles, Copple’s wording does not really make the distinction between unilateral and mutual dismantling.

He does say “the world over” and “as soon as possible“, but what if other countries (Russia, India, Pakistan, UK, France, the People’s Republic of China —as opposed to the Republic of China) do not cooperate and refuse to dismantle, or do so at a slower pace? What should the US do? Dismantle unilaterally or match the pace of the most heavily armed country?

New Nuclear Energy Policy

I’ve tried to cover different possibilities in the poll options:

• “The US should pursue a policy of global (mutual), total nuclear disarmament.“
• “The US should eliminate its nuclear armament stockpile only inasmuch as all other countries do the same.“
• “The US should unilaterally and completely eliminate its nuclear armament stockpile.“

The topic of nuclear power plants is closely linked with the debate on Global Warming. Nuclear power plants are often seen as a necessary evil in order to curb greenhouse gas emissions and fight Global Warming. Thus, I have introduced the nuclear option in the community manifesto poll on Global warming:

• “Use nuclear energy as much as is necessary in order to fight Global Warming (reduce greenhouse gas production).“

Make sure to vote in the above polls. What do you think? About Minguo.info from the website’s collaborative Community Manifesto:

This manifesto is an emerging document, collaboratively and consensually written by the members of the USA realm of this web site (i.e. all the people who freely registered in this web site. Participation is open to all). The content of the manifesto will change and evolve with time, as members contribute to it.

Thanks to the opinion polls running in this site, we can establish which ideas are the most popular with the members. Each section of the manifesto represents a specific subject on which the members have been polled. As more and more members vote, add new (better) options and create new polls, the content will also evolve accordingly.

This manifesto is set up as a handbook which functions as a wiki: any active member can edit and add to it. However, as a spam prevention measure, new members may not be able to edit it. With a simple request, your account can be upgraded to give you edit rights, regardless of your opinions and political affiliation. Simply let us know you are interested in participating. We simply want to filter out hardcore spammers (the kind that’s interested in telling us about the vlagr@ that they are selling or some other spamware), and people promoting hatred and violence.