The bankruptcy of Solyndra has been the subject of lots of political commentary. However, the real story of Solyndra is about the collapse of our manufacturing base.

Many in the manufacturing sector, including the CEO of Dow Chemical, view renewable energy as the best hope for reviving a manufacturing sector that has witnessed the shut down of 42,000 factories in the last 10 years and the evaporation of 5.5 million jobs.

Manufacturing has long been one of America's economic cornerstones. We are nation of inventors and producers. However, the chain of experience in production is being broken. And this has serious implications in the future. Ideas created in America are being built elsewhere.

For example, iPads and iPhones may be designed in California but they are built in China. Each time we purchase an iPad or iPhone, we add to our trade deficit. Moreover, manufacturing has the largest economic multiplier according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. For every $1 in finished goods sold, another $1.40 is supported in other sectors. Compared to the service economy, this is twice the impact.

According to Andrew Liveris, CEO of Dow Chemical and author of "Make It in America," every job created inside a chemical plant also creates five outside jobs. There is simply no service sector equivalent to this kind of job and wealth creation.

So what is driving American companies to look overseas to relocate? Step inside the shoes of a CEO of a manufacturing company for minute and consider the following three things:

1. There is no clarity on regulations (i.e. R&D Tax Credit, clean energy standards, etc) and there is a multiplicity of regulation that adds to business uncertainty. For example, the federal government has three different definitions of "oil" depending on what agency you are talking to: Department of Transportation, EPA or Coast Guard.

2. The U.S. has the second highest corporate tax rate in the world, even after one accounts for tax credits. One might argue that lowering taxes does not help our debt issue. However, evidence shows that lowering the tax rate does increase the tax receipts through growth.

3. We have a leadership class in government that no longer places any meaningful value on manufacturing, viewing manufacturing as dirty and old-school economics. We often hear the refrain that we are shipping low paying jobs to China and how can we compete with $2 hour labor in China. American factories are the most productive factories in the world. When you measure labor cost in terms of productivity, moving jobs to China saves about 10%. So the tipping point comes when you layer in a lack of clarity and the multiplicity of regulations with high taxes and a disinterested leadership class.

Consider this, in 2009 China along with nine other countries passed the U.S. in renewable energy investments. When you compare China to the US as a percentage of GDP, China is investing 10 times more than we are.

So, where have all the jobs gone? They have gone overseas and they will continue to do so until, we realize that we must begin to produce goods again and that innovation follows manufacturing. We stand at a point in time, where we must decide what kind of America we want.

Our opportunity is renewable energy. We can reinvent our infrastructure, revive our manufacturing base, drive cost leadership on key energy inputs while producing products stamped ---- Made in the USA.

Chandler Van Voorhis is Managing Partner of C2I, LLC in Middleburg, a member of the Outdoor Writers Association of America and serves on the board of the Goose Creek Association.