My politically conservative, life-long Republican mom and I had a conversation last night that I thought I’d share.
Craig: If you could receive a Christmas present in the form of a breakthrough in U.S. politics, what would that be?
Mom: Trump would announce that he’s not running, though I know this is impossible.
Craig: So whom would that leave?
Mom: DeSantis and Haley.
Craig: Well, DeSantis is trailing badly, and one has to assume that his right-wing policies don’t appeal even to the GOP, and would certainly not play well in the context of a general election.
Mom: What about Haley?
Craig: I have to admit that I admired her when she was a Democrat U.S. rep in Hawaii, but then she, perhaps along with her advisors, figured out that she could go further as a Republican. In the blink of an eye, she went from, to take an example, claiming that that abortion was a woman’s right to demanding that it be banned. Maybe she had a personal epiphany on this and a dozen other hot-button subjects, but it seems more likely that she saw this as politically expedient.
I regard this is the same way as I would someone who told me that I could attain enormous power and wealth if were to write a book whose premise is that climate change is a hoax and that fossil fuels are the way of the future. Not going to happen.
Seminal astrophysicist Carl Sagan explains why uncomfortable ideas may be banned in religion, they must not be shunned in science.
This is an important concept in American life today, as conspiracy theorists are convinced that climate change denial cannot be considered in scientific circles.
I happened to bring this up in my interview with Dr. V. Ramanathan of the Scripps Institution, who has been amassing data on global warming since the 1970s. He laughed, and explained, “If I could prove that human activity was not causing temperatures to rise, I’d be be one of the wealthiest and most famous scientists in world history.”
As suggested at left, a great deal of the hardship that has befallen the U.S. was simply bad luck. Al Gore came within a whisker of victory in 2000, a win that would have forever changed the course of our nation in terms of energy policy, education, healthcare, and international affairs.
If Bernie had become the 2016 nominee, we wouldn’t have had Hillary Clinton telling our country’s most mean-spirited and least-educated people that they were “deplorables,” ushering a criminal sociopath into the White House.
We Came Incredible Close to Averting the Disaster that Is Donald Trump
Social democracies are nations in which the tax base provides everyone with healthcare and education, and where the richest and most powerful people are not free to ruin the environment.
I run into someone from one of these counties a couple of times a month, and I like to ask why their people are consistently at the top of the World Happiness Rankings. The normal response is always some variant of the following:
It’s hard to be happy living in a society that is indifferent to the suffering of others. It’s part of the very nature of human beings to care about one another.
Something else I notice about these places is that very few people are religious. Sweden, e.g., is about 80% atheist.
That means no childish tribalism, no ridiculous dogmas, no worries about eternal damnation, etc.
-
Climate Change1 year ago
Guest post: Why China is still building new coal – and when it might stop
-
Greenhouse Gases2 years ago嘉宾来稿：满足中国增长的用电需求 光伏加储能“比新建煤电更实惠”
-
Greenhouse Gases1 year ago
Guest post: Why China is still building new coal – and when it might stop
-
Climate Change2 years ago嘉宾来稿：满足中国增长的用电需求 光伏加储能“比新建煤电更实惠”
-
Renewable Energy1 year agoSending Progressive Philanthropist George Soros to Prison?
-
Greenhouse Gases1 year ago
嘉宾来稿：探究火山喷发如何影响气候预测
-
Climate Change2 years agoAnalysis: China’s CO2 falls 1% in Q2 2024 in first quarterly drop since Covid-19
-
Climate Change1 year ago嘉宾来稿：探究火山喷发如何影响气候预测