The Only Thing We’re Short of Is Time

The Only Thing We’re Short of Is Time by Rabbi Daniel Lapin President, Toward Tradition

With five single daughters, each more beautiful, brilliant, and gracious than the next, I am naturally interested in the topic of “meeting & mating.” Perusing various match-making websites the other day, I was baffled by how many women, who, as part of their “sell” proclaimed their political affiliation. Frankly, who cares? And didn’t their mothers ever tell them not to talk about religion, sex, or politics? What is more, almost to a woman, they all declared themselves to be “left wing liberal.” Now, why on earth would they want to discourage the entire universe of intelligent, handsome, and virile conservative bachelors?

A friend of mine, a single Jewish business woman, recently helped me understand the answer. She welcomed higher electricity prices, she said, since they incentivized her to cut down her power usage. Get that? Using lots of electricity is a problem, not because it is expensive, but because it is evil. She wanted electricity to cost more in order to discourage its use.

None of this was about saving money. This girl owns her own condo and wears four hundred dollar sweaters. She was talking morality—doing the right thing not the economical thing. As she sees it, it is obviously just plain wrong to use more than your fair share of electricity.

Are we really suffering from a shortage of electricity or other energy? Should we be rationed? The moral answer is yes if we are suffering an energy shortage and no if we are only imagining one.

This would not be the first time that we have imagined an energy shortage. Until the early 18th century, colonial homes were heated mostly by burning wood. Forests were vanishing and the rapidly growing colonies were running out of fire wood. Eliminate immigration and ration firewood, was the call of the day, until they found and began burning coal. As with anything new and untried, coal brought dangers. But these were soon overcome and by 1840 America was deriving energy from a million tons of coal a year.

William Jevons, an economics professor at University College, London, became famous on account of a paper he published in 1865. It was entitled The Coal Question: An Inquiry Concerning the Progress of the Nation, and the Probable Exhaustion of our Coal Mines. He predicted that British prosperity would end within fifty years when the nation ran out of coal and recommended an industrial slowdown in order to conserve what coal was left. We are just about into 2002 and Britain is still mining and burning coal.

America used to depend on whale oil for lighting. During the early 19th century, pundits warned that since whales were being harvested at an ever increasing rate, America would soon go dark. They recommended turning out all lights no later than ten o’clock in order to conserve what whale oil was left. They were right about running out of whale oil, but they were wrong about America going dark. In 1859 a railroad conductor called Edwin Drake had struck oil in Titusville, Pennsylvania. Lanterns started burning paraffin instead of whale oil until Edison’s electricity lit American cities.

Since the 1970s we have heard much about exhausting the world’s petroleum reserves. Just how soon has been debated, but nobody doubts that the amount of oil is ultimately limited, just as whale oil was. Should we therefore advise petroleum conservation as they once did with firewood, whale oil, and coal?

The truth is that although we do need energy, we have no need specifically for firewood, whale oil, coal, or petroleum. Each in its age suited our purpose. One of Judaism’s central messages is how uniquely human it is to use energy. Animals seek no external sources of energy. They hunt and gather, always expending slightly less bodily energy in the quest than they gain from consuming the quarry. But we humans possess a deep yearning to liberate ourselves from drudgery. Subconsciously this may be because we yearn to have the time to devote to more spiritual pursuits. We are capable of infinite creativity and invention, and need not contemplate energy shortage. It was our limitless human ingenuity that carried us from firewood to coal, and from whale oil to petroleum.

In each step we learned how to extract ever more energy from each pound of matter. Now we have nuclear power, the process that releases almost infinite amounts of energy. Could nuclear power perhaps be for us today what petroleum was to those who foresaw the end of whale oil? Soon, perhaps, we will no longer seek spurious moral redemption by conserving energy. We will find authentic moral purpose in our religious faith while we purchase energy just as we do clothing and coffee today—by consulting our budgets not our consciences.

You know why those single girls described their politics as “left wing liberal?” Because they think that is the best way to say “I’m a good, moral person who cares about others.” Let’s stop seeking moral approval by wearing a badge of ‘left wing liberal’. It may be our politics— it should not be our morality. That ought to be Biblical faith.

Toward Tradition is a 501(c)3 organization based in Seattle, WA, dedicated to restoring America's culture and building the alliance between Jews and Christians. All gifts are tax-deductible. To contact us please write to P.O. Box 58, Mercer Island, WA 98040, or phone 206 236 3046.

Um...if there are intelligent, good looking, employed conservative guys who are being rebuffed by liberal "womyn" I know lots of conservative women who are single (and keep getting hit on by crazy hippies).

I can't remember the last time I had a first date (usually a set up, one of those "I know this guy who'd be great for you" debacles) that didn't involve me ordering a few martini's than usual to drown out the liberal stupidity. And what's worse...THEY DIDN'T EVEN PAY FOR DINNER!

I, once again, think Free Republic should start a dating service...no more hippie losers, I say. There have GOT to be some nice Freeper moms with some very nice, clean cut sons that need nice girls. :) hehehe.

Let me see...

Am I intelligent? Somewhat
Good looking? Somewhat
Employed? Yes
Conservative? Yes
Single? Yes

Am I still looking for a passionate, educated, conservative, religious (i.e. Jewish or convert to Judaism), pleasing-to-the-eye woman that does not want to compete with me, whom would have up to 8 of my children that she loves, whom would use her God-given power to create relationships to inculcate conservative Torah-based values and virtues into them which would result in them going out into the world to change it for the better (and defeating the Socialists at the same time)?
Yes
Will I find one in my lifetime?
Doubt it (at age 34 I am getting less optimistic)

If I took you to dinner I would only have a salad and a water (having already eaten a good meal an a couple of hours previous) and I WOULD PAY FOR IT unless you think you are equal to me in a Socialist kind of way. And do it for less than $40. ;)

But I would rather take you out to the Sabbath table on a Friday night for a Sabbath dinner that includes candles, wine, food, and songs of praise and thanks to God for all the blessings of the week, and discuss the meaning of life through the reading of the weekly Torah portion. Now THAT is life!

I don't really believe in dating. The concept of dating is a French one. It means to spend time with a prostitute. I think courting is more appropriate for conservative and modest ladies.

You should suggest to FR that they start a site. There is a match-making website for conservative people.
http://www.conservativematch.com/
http://www.conservativematchmaker.com/
http://www.singlerepublican.com/
http://www.singlerepublicans.com/

If you go to this link
http://www.guardian.co.uk/GWeekly/Story/0,,537292,00.html
titled, "Lay off men, says Lessing" you will find there a quote.

"Great things have been achieved through feminism. We now have pretty much equality at least on the pay and opportunities front, though almost nothing has been done on child care, the real liberation. Why did this have to be at the cost of men?"

Liberals/Feminazis/Socialists/Marxists et al hate children and they admit it. Just abandon your child to a daycare center and you will be "free at last, free at last! Thank God Almighty, we're free at last!"

Heeb

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.