A Solution to America's Energy, Welfare, and Obesity Crisis?

Maricopa County, Arizona’s famous Sheriff Joe Arapaio, or “Sheriff Joe” is known for his unorthodox treatment of prisoners. He has saved the county millions by setting up a “tent city” which houses prisoners in outdoor military tents, provides inmates with three tiny meals equaling 2,400 calories total, and makes male prisoners wear cheap pink underwear- all to remind them that they broke the law and to think twice before doing it again in his jurisdiction. n           

            Well, Sheriff Joe just debuted another brilliant idea which consists of making inmates who want to watch TV pedal  stationary bikes hooked up to generators in order to power their televisions. One hour of pedaling generates one hour of TV! Incredible, saves tax payer money, gets prisoners in shape and the ole Sheriff is going green, all at the same time.

            This sparked an idea within me. After all the recent chatter coming from politicians about going green and using alternative sources of energy such as wind and solar as well as solving the unemployment crisis which is rampant in our country.

            If we followed the good sheriff’s idea, we may just be able to do both at once and even take it a step further by helping America’s obesity problem.

            Imagine if we hooked up stationary bicycles in major cities that are all powered into the same type of energy grid which Sheriff Joe uses, one that can harness the energy of the people cycling. Then instead of doling out the massive amounts of taxpayer funded welfare checks, we make the recipients peddle, every day, for a certain number of hours.

            This ingenious method would help power cities cleanly, whip people into shape, and make them earn their welfare check- all at once!

            There are almost no downsides to this solution. Everyone knows how long and expensive the process is to construct, assemble, and put-up the solar panels and wind-turbines in America. Not to mention figuring out the ways of correctly harnessing the energy they absorb.

            This solution would solve all those problems and give electricity to buildings instantly!

             Now, I don’t want to jump to conclusions and assume everyone on welfare wants to be on it, because that’s certainly not the case, but I’m sure after a few days of pedaling for six hours  people may become more motivated to start looking for other jobs and get off the government dole. 

            Unfortunately, this ingenious idea created by Sheriff Joe and expanded on by me, will never see the light of day, because the current Politicians we have in office lack something that both Sheriff Joe and I have- COMMON SENSE!