If you need a measuring stick to see just how far Republicans have moved to the right since the terms of Nixon and Reagan, it’s staring you in the face in a recent OpEd article written by four former Republican heads of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). (http://goo.gl/6N5QvE) For those conservatives who are burdened with selective amnesia, they should remember that the EPA was a child of the Nixon administration and that environmental issues once were important to the Republican Party. In fact, the role of the Republicans as guardians of the environment goes back to the time of Teddy Roosevelt’s presidency.
The OpEd article in the New York Times was written by William Ruckelshaus, who worked under Nixon and Reagan, Lee Thomas who served under Reagan and George Bush, William Reilly EPA head under George Bush, and Christine Todd under George W. Bush. These former EPA chiefs state- “There is no longer any credible scientific debate about the basic facts: our world continues to warm, with the last decade the hottest in modern records…The costs of action are undeniable. The lines of scientific evidence grow only stronger and more numerous. And the window of time remaining to act is growing smaller: delay could only mean that warming becomes locked in.”
Unfortunately, today’s Republican Party, controlled by Tea Party conservatives, would disagree with these “moderate” Republicans. Many would label the writers of this article RINOs, Republicans in name only, for espousing views congruent with Obama’s stances. The majority of Republican Senators and members of Congress either deny global warming completely or believe that it is part of a natural cycle and not man made. This is why it has been so difficult to enact comprehensive legislation that addresses global warming as the serious threat that it is.
The Republican EPA authors support President Obama’s executive actions to lower the amount of carbon dioxide discharged by America’s power plants and to raise investments in clean energy technology. Obama is also lauded for moving ahead with restrictions on the use of hydroflourocarbon compounds, which play a major role in depleting the ozone layer and global warming, and for his plans to pursue further international treaties banning these substances. The authors urge Congressional leaders to endorse Obama’s proposals on climate change instead of fighting against them. (Fat chance!)
But the former EPA chiefs want to go even further to fight global warming to protect the health of American citizens. They would like to have a market-based approach like a carbon tax to lower greenhouse gases, but see this as impossible to achieve in Washington’s political gridlock and
conservative unwillingness to increase taxes of any kind.
They believe that finding a way to control global warming does not have to impact America’s strong economy. With new technology, the ability of the nation’s businesses to innovate, and by use of the market, a livable climate is achievable. But it means bringing businessmen, scientists, and politicians together to get it done. Time is of the essence and delay should not be tolerated.
The objective of these environmental protectors is certainly commendable. But how can they get those conservative members of the Republican Party in the House to sign on when many of them still do not accept the concept of global warming and can block any legislation from being enacted. And aside from their unwillingness to believe the scientific data on climate change, they do not want to back any initiative with Obama’s name attached. This is not your parents’ Republican Party.
Resurrecting Democracy
www.robertlevinebooks.com
Political junkie, Vietnam vet, neurologist- three books on aging and dementia. Book on health care reform in 2009- Shock Therapy for the American Health Care System. Book on the need for a centrist third party- Resurrecting Democracy- A Citizen’s Call for a Centrist Third Party published in 2011. Aging Wisely, published in August 2014 by Rowman and Littlefield. Latest book- The Uninformed Voter published May 2020