You know, this whole Solyndra bankruptcy and subsequent “gotcha” game proves once again that Americans don’t even know their own history. Back in the 1860s, even during the Civil War, Congress concluded that it would be a good thing to have railroads connect the West to the Midwest. It lent hundreds of millions of dollars to the railroad industry in order to get the industry started doing just that. In addition, Congress gave (yes, gave) millions of acres of land to the railroads, which they sold to settlers in order to pay back those federal loans.

In other words, the Federal Government has been in the business of targeting investments in industries it wants to see grow for over a century. Solar power is just the latest iteration.