CAMDEN, Maine — The concept was simple: Bring people together to discuss some of the most complex challenges facing the United States and its place in the world.
That’s how the annual Camden Conference started 25 years ago at the hands of a dozen area residents, including Robert Tierney, a retired Central Intelligence Agency foreign service worker. Tierney died in 2008, but his son, Tim Tierney, said Saturday that his father was never the type to sidestep a challenging question — a trait the conference still embodies.
“What he wanted was to stimulate critical thinking about complex problems,” said Tim Tierney. “It was really about getting people to think clearly.”
Tierney died in October 2008. At the time, the United States was embroiled in two wars, had a mounting deficit and an increasingly gridlocked Congress, and the economy was about to collapse.
“He was worried,” said Tim Tierney of his father, who along with the other founders was honored this weekend at the Camden Conference, which attracted more than 450 people at the Camden Opera House and another 260 people watching by closed-circuit television in Belfast and Rockland. Topics have ranged from the inaugural year’s “The Making of American Foreign Policy: Myth and Reality” to a focus on Asia and Afghanistan in the past couple of years.
This year’s theme, “Do We Have What It Takes?”, strikes at the heart of angst surrounding America’s role in the world and problems within its borders. The economy, a looming energy crisis and a faltering education system were just a few of the topics explored by policy professionals, including former New Mexico governor and U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, who gave the keynote address to kick off the sold-out conference Friday night.
Emily Lusher, marketing director for the mostly volunteer-run organization, said the directors opted to turn the focus inward this year after several years of topics from around the world.
“People felt we couldn’t talk about other countries any more until we talk about us,” she said.
Amory B. Lovins, co-founder and chairman of the Rocky Mountain Institute in Colorado, has worked on energy policy for more than four decades. Saturday, he tackled the issue of energy and America’s dependence on foreign oil. He said the technology to solve the problem is available, though the political will, so far, is not. He pointed to countries such as Germany and China as the global leaders in this area. In a 30-minute presentation, he articulated how new construction methods for buildings and cars and the use of renewable resources could help the U.S. follow suit.
“This isn’t just about new technology,” he said. “It’s just about rearranging our mental function. Focusing on outcomes instead of motives can lead to solutions, not gridlock.”
Other speakers on Saturday addressed the broader topic of how America fits into the world on several different fronts. Retired Army Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, a professor of government and public policy at the College of William and Mary and former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell, envisioned the United States in the year 2050 and discussed what steps need to be taken now to ensure that the country is no longer “adrift” in four decades. Among Wilkerson’s suggestions is that the country spend more resources on diplomacy instead of military action, even in the face of tragedies such as the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Navy Capt. Wayne Porter, chairman for strategic strategy at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calf., and retired Marine Col Mark Mykleby, who together penned a 2009 document called “A National Strategic Narrative,” reinforced some of Wilkerson’s themes. They said America lacks a clear and sustainable direction on a number of fronts including education, the use of renewable resources and homeland security.
“We have so many strategies that we have no strategy,” said Porter. “Every single strategy we have is focused on avoiding or countering a recognizable risk. The unfortunate thing is that by the time we recognize the risk, it’s already there.”
Mykleby said the hundreds of billions of dollars that have been spent on homeland security since the 2001 terrorist attack represents too many resources spent on not enough return.
“Sustainability is not just for tree-huggers anymore,” he said, causing laughter among the audience. “If a Marine can say it, it’s OK.”
Martin and Jane Schwartz from Long Island, N.Y., have come to the Camden Conference on several occasions.
“”The people they have speak here are so intellectually superior,” said Martin Schwartz. “They give you something to think about.”
Marshal Wade, a University of Maine sophomore studying political science, is taking a class that is built around the Camden Conference. He was one of more than 150 college students from Maine at the weekend conference. He said he still hasn’t come up with an answer to the question of “Do we have what it takes?”
“Honestly, I do not know,” he said. “A lot of countries seem to have the opportunity to overtake us in a lot of areas.”
For Col. Mykleby, there was less doubt. His answer to the question was “hell, yeah,” though he acknowledged the challenges are considerable.
“The planet Earth is going to be just fine without us,” he said. “We just need to come up with a plan so we can stick around for a while.”
Shouldn’t the question be, does China have what it takes? At the rate we are sending them our jobs and our money, it will be up to China to “have what it takes”.
It’s not half-time, America…it’s 4th quarter, with 3 minutes left on the clock. We’re down $16 trillion, and the puppet up in the owner’s box wants to punt on first down.
It’s been a nice empire.
Will you marry me? LOL
great post
The Guiness Book of Records sites this conference as the largest gathering of war criminals
under one roof outside of the Pentagon and Langley. Did I mention the J Edgar Hoover FBI building?
The only thing I equate Semper Fi with is the word Sociopath.
The BDN has long been the public relations arm for the Military Industrial complex in Northern Maine.
Love the spin in their opening caption “some of America;s brightest minds”……..
If the BDN says so it must be true,eh? LOL
Let the Lord judge the criminals. – Tupac Shakur
Mykleby is correct ….. Sustainability is not just for treehuggers anymore ….. Duh …. It only to 40 years to come to that conclusion? Should have listened to those crazy hippies long ago …. They were right about a lot of things ….. Not everything, but a lot.
Sorry I missed Lovins, one of the best speakers ever, Oh and he’s been saying much the same thing for 25 years …. Conservation is the key our energy problems.
Yo 9. In an attempt to broaden your perspective on the issue of Global
Warming and its connection to consumption of fossil fuels.you may want to view the documentary THE GUILTY MEN.
which details how the oil Mafia in Texas funded the President Kennedy
assassination. google jfk assassination richardson murchison.
Also view the banned documentary here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgNfQYpS1gQ. If you do not understand the 911 terrorist attack was created by big oil and. the US Government then you have not seen the film END OF SUBURBIA. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3uvzcY2Xug
too much acid in your life…nice spin
To many CIA retirees living in Camden and Boothbay.
Checked in with Ram Dass. He said my Ph level is just fine, eh?
http://maharajji.com/
Not much of a conspiracy theorist or believer. I was once but over the years came to believe that Lee Oswald did it and acted alone. His biography and the evidence all make sense even though the crime represents a one in a million series of unfortunate coincidences such as Oswald working at the Texas Book Depository on that day …. Five weeks before he applied for a half dozen jobs, and the one at the TBD was the one that came thru first, so he took it.
Had a chance to shoot the video for the 1989 Composer to Composer Festival in Telluride Colorado.
It was organized by the Telluride Institute . Amory Lovins is on their Board of Directors. Always thought it would be great if Maine had a similar organization.see
http://www.tellurideinstitute.org/page_1
I agree. What I see as alarming is this pushback against the EPA and environmental controls. I am guessing these people do not remember what it was like in the 1960’s and 1970’s before the EPA was around. The rivers were running cesspools, dead fish, and foul air. And, this was in “pristine” Maine! I do not want to go back to those days.
Sustainability – yes. There is so much we could do just be changing a law or two. An example: In Germany, farmers who have odd bits of land that cannot be farmed stick up wind turbines and solar cells. These feed to the grid and the farmer is paid for the power produced. Good deal and less dependence on coal (a polluting energy source) and if electric heat is used instead of oil heat, less dependence upon foreign oil.
The only problem is that in Maine, only Net Metering is allowed. You get a credit for up to 12 months of power produced and then you lose the credits! What is the incentive, therefore, to put up more panels than you could use? There is none. I have an 85 acre farm that has not been “farmed” in years. I would love to stick up PV Panels and sell the power back to the grid. But, I cannot do so. If MPUC would change the rules. perhaps many of these small farmers in Maine could have another “cash crop” called electricity.
If this group is so terrific, it should list the major benefits of their annual conference. I checked their web site. Nineteen individuals were listed under their Board membership which only included three people with last names starting with letters after “M”. This seems like an odd distribution of names. Maybe some members of this elite, non-representative group should take the time to list their major contributions in the past decade which were directly related to the conference; otherwise, time could be better spent by reading some of speaker’s publications instead of staging an unaccountable and pretentious event.
one will have to be a surviver to survive.
As always, these are establishment figures generally retired from govt. and military service who can use the opportunity to speak generalities that are either often obvious or often wrong. Don’t look for serious critiques of the kind found in, say, The Economist. The costs are high and only the well-to-do can attend. Pretentious annual gathering. But good for area business, so why complain? But why no invitation to John Baldacci? Disgraceful. He is Maine’s deepest thinker ever.
I belive this summs up America today –
” “Do we have what it takes?”
“Honestly, I do not know,” he said. “A lot of countries seem to have the opportunity to overtake us in a lot of areas.””
America has given away to many opportunities, to much talent, forsaken its roots, no national health care and thrown so much money away on needly tax cut programs that were financed based on our childrens, grand childrens and great grand childrens future -we have given our position in this world away – and with minimal hope of it returning!
Turn things over to the American people and we have a chance! Leave it in the hands of our Government and we haven’t got a shot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am not so sure. In the past, the lone inventor in the garage could produce the next great project. These days, it is nearly impossible for that same guy to come up with the “next great thing” as everything is pretty complicated.
I have to look at success and learn from it. We could learn a few things from the Chinese. They have learned much from us. What I want is a whole lot less ideological claptrap, and more focusing on what is going to work.
When we look at NASA, we see a huge government led organization that put a man on the moon and created the shuttle and the Hubble telescope, but bear in mind that most of the actual work was subbed-out to major contractors such as Grumman and Northrup, to name a couple. Some of the best projects, in the sense of scale and how they affected our lives, present and future, were the result of efforts by NASA, the National Institute of Science, and the DARPA organization. These were government funded but farmed out to our brightest of the bright private companies. Look at the Human Genome project funded by the government – that was supposed to take a decade and it was done ahead of time. The results have been made public to corporations who, in turn, created new medications to treat some of the most vexing of diseases.
There is a place for government involvement in “greasing the skids” for new technology and new businesses. We cannot leave EVERYTHING to the private sector as the private sector will not initiate a project unless it is close to guaranteeing success (and profit). Completely understandable. For example, no private company is going to improve our interstate railroad system. It’s too big and there is not guarantee of success (profit) in the long run. That does not mean we should say, “too bad,” and move on. We need the railroads and infrastructure in order to allow business to function.
Here’s another example – the internet – who do you think created and pays for the internet backbone? Not the private sector. It’s government.
So, before you throw the baby out with the bath water, let’s take a step back, see how our system works, see where we can improve it, drop all this ideological claptrap going on now, and mark a path on how we can succeed. We have distinct advantages over other countries. It is inborn in us to be tinkerers and to “fix stuff” and do what is necessary to solve the problem. We truly are the “Connecticut Yankees in King Arthur’s Court.” Other countries do not come from a long line of creating new and innovative ideas. Do recall that the iPhone is built in China. It is DESIGNED in the USA.
To continue this innovation and be two-steps ahead of the game, we need to make investments in our high-tech schools. We need to change our immigration policy to keep talented people from other countries here in this country and not heading back to their own. We need to focus on the future and what it takes to get there. So, let’s do it.
We also need to bury this never-ending line of B.S. from the churches about gay marriage, birth control, abortion, social issues, and all these other regressive stances. Get past all that hogwash, get with the program, and move forward. This is 2012 not 1612.
We need to rebuild America using the same idea, a Government of the people by the people for the people! I am sorry but the Government has become too big and powerful and is too much for itself and not the people! Salaries, pensions and insurance benefits for both State and Federal Government needs to be reduced drastically! They have set themselves up with these excellent salaries, benefits and pensions payed for by the American blue collar workers who are struggling just to survive and can’t think of retiring!
Perhaps, if there were less focus on fighting each other in Congress and instead get on the bandwagon and work together something actually would get accomplished. Right now, I see the GOP from Day One doing everything in its power to remove the President rather than to work with him to move forward the American dream. We had 8 years under Bush where very little was accomplished domestically and the economy was driven into the ground by Wall Street and no one in the government policing their criminal activities. I say that even though I am a Republican. But, there is a huge difference between Reagan and Bush-41 vs. Bush-43.
It is time for us to get off our duffs and move forward. This uptick in regressive social issues, religious conservatism, and social repression is appalling and an utter waste of time.
I do not find the government necessarily too big. I find it hamstrung and no real mission in place. I am not objecting to paying taxes, but for those taxes I expect to get great schools, great roads, civil rights for all (costing the government not one dime), a maglev train system, and an ATC system that speeds planes along, and highways and bridges. Instead, I see Congress locked in battle and funds being spent to marginalize minorities. They need to focus on what is important and oppressing minorities and listening to claptrap from religious zealots is utterly unimportant. Leave all that to the magical-thinking people in the churches.
I don’t believe that the Democrats or Republicans are in tune with the real problems in America, poverty, violence and discrimination! They keep telling us that unemployment is decreasing throughout the country which is a sign the economy is getting stronger. What they should be saying is the unemployment rate is continuing to increase but because more and more people are running out of there unemployment benefits they no longer show up as unemployed! As for education, it seems as though Republicans, Democrats and teachers seem to focus more on salaries, benefits and the construction of more elaborate school buildings than they do about maintaining the schools we already have and focusing on improving the quality of education for our children. I agree that we need to join together, Republicans and Democrats and start working to repair and restore our beautiful country and regain that wonderful American pride!
If Bill Richardson is one of America’s brightest minds then America is in BIG trouble.
I don’t know much about these folks or the conference, but it’s been
painfully obvious to me in my own life that the hard questions require
more courage than intellect to answer and act upon. Just my $.02.
I guess you never saw http://www.americanswhotellthetruth.org
Common sense Americans could get more done in an hour than the conference people have in 25 years. There is always much rhetoric and no solutions.
Especially when you have retired CIA employees trying to bring meaning into their lives before their next incarnation,eh?
I believe that the big Corps. that run the operations behind the scene are totally satisfied to have the outgo look acceptable on paper but in reality the bottom line is the all mighty $$$ !
I have acquaintances that are employed by a Major “World Class” company, whose CEO is the Jobs Czar of the USA, and what is *said* is not followed up with what is *done*.
Headline News,,,,,MORE JOBS in the USA,,,,,,,,,,,blah,blah,blah!
Real world interpretation= more Cheap poorly made lead paint based crap from
CHINA, MEXICO,INDIA,TAIWAN,etc.,etc.,etc!
When’s it gonna End????????Who knows !!!
As long as the checks are cashed & the bills are paid,,,,, WHO CARES,,,Right?
Have a Wonderful life and keep up the good work y’all !!! Peace! ;<)
With the corporations, regulations, politicians, corruption and lies stacked up against the individual, what chance do we have?