My Dinner With Rep. John Larson: More Than Oysters and Beer
By Alex Hillbrand ’08
News Staff Writer
The United States needs more members of Congress like the Honorable John Larson. I had the privilege of having dinner with Representative Larson before his Tuesday night lecture to Choate history and economics srudents, and I was happily surprised to meet a man both invested in his constituents and devoted to both the past and the future of his country. We discussed American history, renewable energy, the environment, and, of course, slurping oysters and beer.
“Slurping oysters and beer.” Larson told his dinner companions that we would probably only remember his story of eating oysters and drinking beer with men in the Connecticut shell-fishing industry. How wrong he was. The first serious characteristic of Larson I noted was a passionate devotion to the history of our nation. Although this may seem nice but unimportant at first glance, immersing oneself in the history of our great republic is the single best way to understand what roles government should play, and how it should change the course of our nation. This immersion also gives our leaders heroes—people to emulate—from the founding of America . Larson is mesmerized by the story of Thomas Paine: an American citizen who emigrated from England and became one of the most outspoken voices for independence. Although his pamphlet “Common Sense” is taught in high schools across the country, he is often disregarded because of his activities in the French Revolution and subsequent support of deism. Larson spoke at length about the significance of Paine’s work while everyone awkwardly sat and listened, waiting for him to finish so that the feast could begin. However, in my opinion, one eye on the past and the other turned towards the future is the best view a Congressperson can have.
The conversation about renewable energy that followed showed that Larson’s other eye is truly looking ahead. We discussed the necessity of American energy independence (“or at least…energy self-sufficiency,” as Larson liked to say) for the security of our economy and the well being of our planet. As a member of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, he realizes that this self-sufficiency must come in the form of clean, renewable energies, and is a member of the House Caucus on Fuel Cells and Hydrogen partly because those industries have a strong foothold in Connecticut . We discussed the fact that a conversion to renewable energies is well within America ’s technical capabilities, and that it such a conversion will foster industrial growth in this renewable energy sector. And once American automotive companies embrace green cars, their sales will surely rise against the currently-greener Japanese vehicles. However, this conversion to green-car manufacturing will mean significant upfront costs, so Larson is prepared to give financial relief to those corporations who lead the change. Larson authored America’s Energy Security Trust Fund Act, a carbon tax that would charge $15 per ton of carbon dioxide released into the environment and, with that money, would “provide tax Credits for research and development of alternative energy technologies, provide transition assistance for affected industries, and reduce the burden of payroll taxes on working households.” Larson is a brilliant example of American legislators fighting to bring our country to the front lines of the war on climate change. Larson’s devotion to this cause is palpable, and I can only hope that this Democratic Congress and the next President of the United States will embrace his spirit of improvement and innovation.
But for such a motivated man, I’m glad he still slurps oysters and beer.
