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Republicans like exceptions rather than the rule.

It’s their forte, if you will. For Republicans to win over their base with their increasingly unpopular views, they need to find a way to convince their supporters that they are in the majority rather than the minority. Their strategy of choice over the years has been to locate and spotlight one example that they feel can totally undermine an otherwise sensible viewpoint. The amount of examples they use is simply staggering and is done on nearly every issue. They will find that one scientist who denies climate change. They will find that one person who abuses the food stamp system. And of course, they will try to find Affordable Care Act horror stories, even though these are nearly impossible to find and when they are found, do not stand up to scrutiny.

In short, they will do anything to tell the story that they want their viewers to hear.

The same strategy has been applied to the use of solar power in this country. Republicans have long been in the pocket of the big energy corporations and have engaged in a decades-long campaign to turn away Americans from this effective, efficient, renewable energy option. They have claimed it wasn’t feasible, that it cost too much, that it wouldn’t make much of a difference, and even that it wouldn’t work in certain areas. This campaign made it difficult for start-up solar energy companies to break into the market as American consumers were concerned about the talking points against solar power that Republicans had ingrained in their minds. It also didn’t help that Republicans were again able to find a singular example of a solar company that didn’t work as they made sure to highlight the failings of Solyndra during the 2012 presidential campaign.

Fortunately, you can only keep a good thing down for so long. In the past few years, renewable solar energy has begun to pick up momentum nationwide as consumers are seeing through Republican lies and are taking advantage of the benefits of solar power like reduced energy costs, the ability to produce their own renewable energy, and the ability to then send that energy back to the grid for others to use. As of now, roughly 0.6% of all energy in the United States comes from solar, but that number is expected to increase to 1.5% by the year 2015. As the use of solar energy increases, Republicans and their big energy corporate masters are beginning to feel threatened. In fact, they have gotten so desperate that states like Oklahoma have begun to incorporate an extra fee for any consumers who are using alternative energy to power their homes.

The solar momentum has even spread to cities like Seattle. One of the best, fallacious claims that Republicans have used is that solar power would be ineffective in cloudy areas. Besides being completely scientifically inaccurate, it has been proven that areas with cloudy weather can do exceedingly well with solar power. In fact, in August of 2013 the country of Germany broke the monthly solar generation record. Seattle residents have begun to see through these lies and are now embracing solar and its benefits such as tax credits from the federal government as well as unique benefits from their state. The state of Washington currently pays its residents 54 cents for every kilowatt-hour of energy produced which can net them up to $5,000 a year. In addition, some local utilities will pay for excess energy generated at the retail price of 11 cents per kilowatt-hour during peak demand. If done correctly, Seattle residents have a realistic chance to pay off the price paid for loans and installation of their solar panels within ten years.

Of course, there has been pushback from the Seattle area energy companies. They have argued that if more people go solar then they will lose money and to make up for that loss they will have to pass off higher costs to their consumers. That will then cause more and more consumers to go solar and therefore there will ultimately be a day where energy companies won’t have the needed finances available to maintain and improve existing infrastructure as well as building new facilities. Despite this argument, more and more Seattle residents are, in fact, turning to solar power. They have been undeterred by Republican talking points and energy company fear-mongering. They know that if a “dreary” country like Germany can succeed in using solar energy then there’s no reason that their beloved overcast Seattle cannot succeed as well. Once Seattle goes solar, Republicans should realistically abandon their beloved talking point that solar power doesn’t work in cloudy areas. However knowing how today’s modern Republican Party works, they will probably double down on this claim despite all evidence to the contrary.

Because Republicans know if they lose Seattle to solar their entire argument is shot.