There is a great divide between rural and urban.  Wind energy is the latest issue to expose this gap.  Urban dwellers see wind energy as a solution to high energy prices and a clean alternative to fossil fuels.  Rural folk see wind energy as another thing city folk are going to try to take without paying for.  They are both right, but there is much more to it than that.

Rural Oklahoma today looks much different than it did when I was growing up there in the late 70's and early 80's. Then it was a community of farmers -- small businessmen who knew how to manage the naturally variable process of growing things.  Most of them are gone now and their kids moved away.  The ones who still farm do so in a way that is hardly recognizable.  No one seems to see any future in it, but I see a huge opportunity.    

The U.S. Constitution was written by and for independent farmers who knew how to manage the naturally variable process of growing things.  Industrialization of agriculture replaced most U.S. farmers with low-skill, low-wage laborers and top-down corporate/government management.  Unfortunately, neither the laborers nor the managers know how to farm.  They are unprepared to respond to changes in the climate, energy markets and food markets which have all become very variable.  We need people who are skilled at managing the naturally variable process of growing things.  We need farmers.  And we need them now.