Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) conceded yesterday that his party lacks direction and vision, at least for now, when it comes to the environment. “Before we can be bipartisan we gotta figure out where we are as a party,” the Republican said at an event hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations. “What is the environmental platform of the Republican Party?”…. “The problem is Al Gore has turned this thing into a religion,” Graham said. “You know, climate change is not a religious problem for me, it is an economic, it is an environmental problem.”
There are many reasons the Republican Party has no environmental policy. For one thing, there’s a significant chunk of the GOP’s rabid Christian Right wing convinced that, because of the impending Rapture, there’s no reason to care for the environment. They believe that we should exploit it as much as possible before the righteous are raptured to Paradise. After all, no one will be left will be the unsaved; they’ll have made their bed, so why shouldn’t the ybe made to lie in it?
Another reason for the GOP’s lack of an environmental policy is that protectibg the environment runs counter to the business interests of their largest donors. Something about not biting the hands that feed it, no? Why would Republicans do anything that would impede the ability of their benefactors to maximize profits? There’s no money in hugging trees; if it was otherwise, Greenpeace would be listed on the NASDAQ exchange.
For Sen. Graham to blame former Vice President Al Gore for turning the environment into a “religion” is beyond absurd. Graham’s ridiculous assertions only serve to underscore just how little thought Republicans have given the environment. They don’t know, because they don’t care to know. And when they don’t care to know, they can always blame a Democrats and absolve themselves of responsibility.
Stay classy, eh?
For one thing, neither Gore nor anyone else concerned with climate science has turned the issue “into a religion.” It’s actually the exact opposite - Gore and those who accept the data as true aren’t asking anyone to take the evidence on faith or belief in things unseen. On the contrary, Gore and other believers in science are asking people to look at the verified evidence.
For another, regardless of what the former vice president has ever said or not said, Gore’s rhetoric isn’t an explanation for Republican climate denialism. It’s up to GOP policymakers to consider reality as it exists, not look askance at data because they don’t like Al Gore.
But perhaps most unsatisfying is the notion that Republicans are otherwise comfortable with science and environmental policy, but the party has some kind of blind spot when it comes to global warming. If only it were that simple.
The GOP doesn’t have a blind spot when it comes to the environment or global climate change. They simply deny it’s validity and they employ that willful ignorance and disregard to advance the interests of their well-heeled benefactors. It’s not about “religion,” it’s about greasing the skids for those industries and corporations that maximize profits by cutting corners and damaging the environment, as if they damage they do will be someone else’s problem. Before too much longer, though, it will be everyone’s problems, including those responsible for damaging the environment. Eventually the damage will become impossible to ignore and/or repair. We’ll be forced to live with the consequences. Denial only hastens that process, and the money made through such exploitation will be of little consequence.
Reality is what it is. It’s not a political concept open to interpretation, denial, or spin. All Al Gore did was to present data and ask the world to look at it and evaluate it. 97% of climate scientists agree on the reality and veracity of global climate change. At this point, it’s not a matter of debating whether or not global climate change is real; it’s about trying to minimize the damage so that we have something to leave to future generations.
Sen. Graham’s practiced ignorance only demonstrates just how little Republicans care about the environment. The fact that they have no policy is hardly surprising; indeed, it’s very much in character. They don’t care because no one who stands up for the environment will line their campaign war chests. They don’t care because the interests of those who do write checks to Republicans would be damaged by efforts to preserve and protect the environment.
The truth is we’re talking about a contemporary GOP that not only rejects climate science, but it’s equally uncomfortable with evolutionary biology, reproductive health, and in some cases, even vaccinations. One Republican senator apparently isn’t even sure about hand-washing after trips to the bathroom.
It’s willful ignorance and negligence, pure and simole. It’s about ignoring the facts in the service of an agenda that will lead inevitably to the destruction of the environment…and with it the only world we have.
It’s not Al Gore’s fault. It’s the fault of every Republican in Congress who denies global climate change and refuses to take action that could save future generations.
Keep fiddling….
