Vicki B
Last month the Republicans tried to block the EPA from regulating to mitigate the impacts of climate change. In the course of the debate Democrats introduced three amendments that said climate change was real, that it was caused by humans and that its impact is potentially severe.So the Republicans had to vote on these amendments.
And here is the extraordinary thing. Not one (none, nada , zilch) of the 31 Republicans voted in favor of any of these amendments. So according to the GOP climate change is not real, isn't caused by humans and won't cause severe consequences.
Can we go and live in that world where none of this exists? Because in the world we live in we see deadly floods, tornados , landslips, and more deadly floods - and we see them often. What channel do these guys watch that none of those things happen?
Or what has caused the Republicans , en masse , to put their heads in the sand and deny not only the evidence from the scientific community, but pretty much the nightly news? And if these people are so sure theres no climate change are they perhaps happy to go live in low lying coastal areas in Kiribati, the Maldives, Tonga or vast coastal swathes of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh? Do they insure their seaside properties from the tide?
There was a time when Republicans thought, and even showed that process. But it seems that's disappeared and in the desire to appear to the lunatics of the Tea Party and others noone is allowed to show any neuron function at all. But what may be more worrying is that many American brains have also gone AWOL. A recent Gallup poll found that the issue doesn't do well with the public either. In 2008 66% of respondents said the issue "worried" them. Now just 51% are worried, a number that has held about steady since 2010. And the split is very partisan. Only 31% of Republicans told Gallup earlier this month that they worry "a great deal" or "fair amount" about climate change. 72% of Democrats said the same thing, as did 51% of independents.
Is the fear of being seen to think in the Republican Party now so extreme that everyone has to pretend climate change is not an issue?
Is there a psychological factor in terms of fear of isolation and loss of power plays such a pivotal role in politics in the GOP that conformity reigns supreme?
And is this what Americans seek to defend by way of the Great Democracy they are so insistent they should impose on the world ?
Who Invests Most in Clean Energy ?
