The Loyal Opposition
The Waxman-Markey bill that the House Energy & Commerce Committee's approved on last week is flawed. But it represents the first serious step to examining one of the most pressing issue of our time.
Fights over social issues like gay marriage, abortion, and health care, are trivial when you consider the future of the billion people who depend on water Asian glaciers that could disappear in a matter of decades.
It is against this backdrop that I must comment on the state of the country's opposition party, the Republicans.
I'm not the first. Frank Rich and Jim Hightower, as well as many others, have made this observation in the past few weeks. But when it comes to climate change, the GOP's performance is particularly unsettling.
Consider the following sampling of quotes:
- Rep. John A. Boehner (R-Ohio): "The idea that carbon dioxide is a carcinogen that is harmful to our environment is almost comical."
- RNC Chair Michael S. Steele: "We're cooling. We’re not warming," a sentiment echoed by right-leaning columnist George Will several months earlier.
- Rep. John Shimkus (R-Illinois): "If we decrease the use of carbon dioxide, are we not taking away plant food from the atmosphere?"
- And another one from Rep. Shimkus (on why he believes that climate change is not a threat): “The earth will end only when God declares its time to be over. Man will not destroy this earth, this earth will not be destroyed by a flood.”
- Rep. Joseph Barton (R-Texas) (explaining why CO2 emissions pose no danger): "I'm creating it as I talk to you. It's in your Coca-Cola, your Dr. Pepper and your Perrier water. It's necessary for human life. It's odorless, colorless, tasteless, doesn't cause cancer, doesn't cause asthma. There's nobody that's ever been admitted to a hospital because of CO2 poisoning."
These statements reveal a disturbing lack of knowledge on the part of the very people we need to know the most.
If you think this is just a case of selective quoting, I invite you to check out the GOP blog of last week's mark-up hearings.
The science of climate change is evolving rapidly and we need our elected representatives to stay on top of the science to avoid making terrible mistakes. The last thing we should tolerate is another poorly conceived mandate which incentivizes South American farmers to cut down virgin rainforest for new corn fields. Such unintended consequences lurk around every corner in this debate.
As Frank Rich said earlier this month, the democratic process works better with a functioning opposition. Right now, this debate needs one.
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