Phil Bredesen, former governor of Tennessee, spoke with Michael Vandenbergh, Vanderbilt Law School professor, on Nov. 5 in an interview-style conversation about the challenges and merits of implementing solar energy, the rise of political polarization and aspects of Bredesen’s political career.  

Bredesen was the governor of Tennessee from 2003 to 2011. As governor, he rescued TennCare – Tennessee’s state Medicare program – from financial crisis, partnered with major companies like Volkswagen to create over 100,000 new jobs and bring in over $12 billion in investment and preserved hundreds of thousands of acres of land in the state.  

The conversation began with a discussion about how Bredesen initially intended to become a physics professor. Bredesen said he gained an interest in politics when he went to college during the Vietnam War.  

“When I graduated high school, I had zero interest in public service. I just wanted to be a physicist. But you couldn’t be at Harvard in the 1960s during Vietnam without being exposed to politics,” Bredesen said. “I came to see politics as an honorable and useful calling.” 

Bredesen said that the analytical and problem-solving skills he learned while studying physics helped him in his various careers, including his work in healthcare companies.  He said he approached politics with a similar, practical, scientific approach. 

“For me, politics isn’t a religion — it’s a tool. I don’t think you have to buy into every part of a party platform. I just try to solve problems. That comes from my physics background: I like figuring things out,” Bredesen said. 

Vandenbergh then asked Bredesen about energy and renewable resources. Bredesen said that as governor, he was primarily interested in popularizing solar power for economic reasons and because it could help rural parts of Tennessee. 

“As time went on, it became clear that renewable energy had to be [a] part of the solution to climate change. Solar [energy] made sense — it’s practical, affordable, and scalable,” Bredesen said. 

When asked about the swiftly rising demand for energy in the current market, Bredesen said that solar is “one piece of the puzzle.” He argued that while the biggest problem solar power faces is permitting, it is the cheapest source of energy in most regions, and most grid systems in the U.S. can support it. 

“The bigger challenge is permitting. The system was built around coal and nuclear plants that take a decade to build,” Bredesen said. “Solar is distributed and much faster to deploy, but the regulatory structure hasn’t caught up. Streamlining that process would be a huge improvement.” 

Bredesen also said that criticism surrounding the implementation of solar power has largely been over practical concerns rather than ideological divides. He noted that rural communities were sometimes concerned that solar power would diminish their farmland but eventually came around to it once they were made aware of its economic merits. 

“I had Republicans tell me, ‘I supported you as governor, but I just can’t send another Democrat to Washington.’ And I’ve heard Republicans like Lamar Alexander say they’ve had the same experience in reverse,” Bredesen said. “People rely too much on party labels and not enough on thinking for themselves.”  

Bredesen also said that people should be open to having their perspectives changed by others instead of approaching politics with a fixed, partisan mindset. 

“The point is humility — realizing that you or your tribe might not have all the answers. I wish that mindset was more widespread, especially among elected officials,” Bredesen said. 

Both Bredesen and Vandenbergh agreed that people’s tendencies to vote exclusively along party lines has gotten out of hand and that political polarization has increased in recent years. Bredesen pointed out that tribalism has increased partly because of the belief that compromise is a weakness. 

To reduce polarization, Bredesen suggested encouraging more humility among members of a discussion and framing issues through a lens that does not immediately insinuate a partisan perspective. Bredesen talked about how he demonstrates this approach in his podcast, “You Might Be Right,” which he co-hosts with fellow former Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam. 

“We did one [discussion] on guns and gun violence. We talked about how to begin [the discussion], instead of starting with [the question,] ‘are you a Second Amendment supporter or not?’ We began with, ‘Over 40,000 gun deaths occurred in America last year,’” Bredesen said. “We can all agree that’s not a good thing. ‘What are your thoughts about that?’ That [kind of] framing led to a much more productive discussion.” 

Bredesen then advised attendees to talk to people who may have different perspectives or backgrounds than them. 

First-year Leo Silver said he enjoyed listening to the conversation and that he was especially impressed by Gov. Bredesen’s grasp of multiple perspectives.  

“I really enjoyed how he was able to address both sides of political spectrums and kind of stick to his identity as a political moderate. And I feel like his ability to acknowledge both sides of the political spectrum was very noble,” Silver said. 

Junior Yotam Peer also said he enjoyed the event. He said that as a New Yorker, he was slightly surprised by the governor’s outlook on energy policy. 

“I have a very New York outlook, where it is all about global warming and about this existential issue that we’re facing. And so I think I reacted to a lot of the former governor’s ideas, his hesitancy about advocacy [and] his focus on really trying to reach the farmers and the people in the rural areas, as something that is not the playbook that I’m used to,” Peer said.