Bubba can save America

I want to talk about Bubba. In the south, Bubba is an endearing nickname for the man who can fix almost anything. Today, more often than not, Bubba is a college graduate with a degree in Agri-science. Anyway, if something is broken, Bubba can fix it. He welds. He engineers and rigs equipment that he needs. He modifies what he buys to meet his specific needs. He is a natural born problem solver.

Look at those two southern gentlemen who proved that putting bahia and bermuda grass on the oil spill would absorb the oil. The hay absorbs the oil and can be scooped up like sea weed. While this solution only works for the surface oil slick and not the deep water oil plumes, it is only one example of the problem solving that occurs when there is a need.

My father is most certainly a “Bubba.” Until recent health issues occurred, if something broke, he would fix it. He is undoubtedly one of the smartest men I know. After a plane crash, instead of stopping work, he built machines that would help him continue to work. It was as easy for him to build an addition on the house and to engineer an elevator outside so that they would not have to climb the steps or carry groceries up the steps at their river house as it was for him to fix a car or airplane.

Inside the average American, Bubba’s spirit lurks. There is an unharnessed creativity and ingenuity that could change the future of this country. Somewhere, some Bubba has ideas about how we can solve the energy issue but because he is not from a doctoral program at some research laboratory, his ideas are not taken seriously. I would like to challenge every Bubba in the United States to work on their ideas and to put the oil companies out of business. This is a matter of national security and our future economic stability.