About Rod D. Martin
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Politics & Economics
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by Rod D. Martin
June 1, 2015
1 out of every 7 people on Earth live without electricity. That means no sanitation, no lights, no computers, shorter lifespans, poor medicine, grinding poverty.
Energy is as essential as clean water, abundant food, and a good education. Without energy, many people will never have those other three things.
50 years ago America was serious about solving this problem. In the era of Apollo, it launched the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment. MSRE involved not only a completely new kind of nuclear reactor, but a completely different fuel: thorium. The results were, and are, astonishing.
Thorium reactors are a modern miracle. They cannot melt down (cannot!). They produce just 1% of the radioactive waste current reactors do, and they can even burn up all of the radioactive waste already produced. A thorium reactors costs just 1/5 the price of current reactors. And thorium cannot (yes, cannot) be used to make a bomb.
It is insane that we aren’t pursuing this amazing technology, which we pioneered. But it won’t shock you to learn that just a few years after MSRE’s inception, no less of a “visionary” leader than James Earl Carter, Jr. shut the whole thing down.
Others aren’t so blind. China and India are putting huge resources behind a new generation of safe thorium reactors. Bill Gates and other private investors and companies here at home are too.
Abundant, cheap, safe, clean energy, just as was promised fifty and sixty years ago. Innovation has made it possible. In point of fact, innovation could have made it a reality decades ago.
Read about this remarkable half-century old experiment and the men who made it possible. It is an inspiration, and at the same time, a cautionary tale. Today’s America needs a lot of both.
It also needs thorium.
Rod is one of our nation’s leading minds. He’s smart, original, and very committed—a combination that one rarely finds.
Rod Martin and [former Howard Dean campaign manager] Joe Trippi are America’s two foremost experts on online politics.
Rod Martin is a Reaganite-Thatcherite conservative…[and] a man who has spent much of his life ministering to and working for the benefit of others. I know Rod as an advocate for freedom, a leader who understands the real changes we need in Washington, and who has the drive and ability to make those changes happen.
Rod Martin is the kind of dynamic leader who has the knowledge, ability and experience to lead us successfully into the 21st Century. His vision for America is compelling.
Rod Martin literally wrote the book on excellence. Humble yet brilliant, a man of love and compassion, with penetrating clarity he illuminates the world around us, and we are both stirred and enlightened.
Rod Martin is a born leader and an outstanding political mind. Anyone who takes him on is going to have a serious fight on their hands.
Rod Martin is a man of uncommon vision and character. Ever since I first worked alongside Rod in the early days of PayPal, I’ve been struck by his powerful vision for the future. Rod understands the intersection of technology, politics and culture in a way that few others do.
Rod Martin wears with uncommon grace an uncanny ability to link his vigorous faith to the practical challenges of both the business world and the political arena. Yet the respect he shows for others carries a warmth and modesty that are both too rare among those who are strong advocates of feisty positions.
America badly needs more leaders who really get the future. We need more Rod Martins.
Rod Martin is a modern day philosopher-statesman. He is a capitalist intellectual, a conservative iconoclast, a gentle adversary and a kind prophet. He inspires us towards a fresh national vision built upon the original founding principles.
Rod Martin is not only effective and efficient, but he is also perceptive, wise and gracious. He gets things done. He is a great friend and a great ally.
Rod is one of the sharpest, most gracious men I know, and one of the most gifted political thinkers today. His ability to analyze issues and communicate thoughtful insights on them have earned him the respect of people across the political spectrum.
I am proud to have been Rod Martin’s friend for a quarter century, and I can tell you that he is one of the finest men and most outstanding leaders in our church and in our country today. He has a knack for turning everything he touches to success.
Rod Martin is a cornucopian entrepreneur and eutropic thinker whose influence radiates through an array of companies, institutions, movements and churches. A renaissance American, he is also a prolific friend of freedom and faith around the globe.
If Rod Martin represents the next generation of leaders, America has nothing to worry about.
A leader and a servant, in public life and in private, Rod Martin strides at the top of his profession, and has nowhere to go but up. He is in the truest sense of the word ‘outstanding’.
Rod Martin is undoubtedly one of the most accomplished thought leaders today. He is a wonderful mentor, a humble role model, and a deep inspiration for the next generation of scientific innovators and entrepreneurs.
Rod’s achievements pale beside his character and his brilliance. He sees what others can’t. He leads when others won’t.
Rod Martin is one of America’s finest young minds.
