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Clean Air, Fresh Water, Safe Food: Not Political Issues So Why Are They Look Around, See if This Statement is True or Not
(you may be amazed) Once a Believer, Always a Believer
(yes or no)

Meet some of the climate deniers (in the Koch club) who want to be president - their faces - their words (not mine) seen here. "Koch" the Drink that Refreshes
(or tries to refresh your GOP campaign - here take a sip)

Now, the main post: In his first State of the Union Address in 1790, George Washington told Congress, “There is nothing which can better deserve your patronage, than the promotion of science and literature.” He went on to call science essential to our nation.

Two hundred and twenty years later, in his first inaugural address, President Barack Obama vowed to “restore science to its rightful place.” Since then most Republicans have booed in the background and openly more so than ever in my memory.

Let’s be honest, shall we? Mankind has survived terrible wars (two major ones to date and lots of less-major “wars” scattered in between and all with huge human tolls. Mankind has even seen our share of the ultimate misery inflicted by man on man: two atomic bombs when we dropped two on Japan to end WW II). Mankind has seen and caused the deaths in so many cases it’s hard to keep track where hundreds of millions have been killed or murdered outright throughout history with some even saying, “We were just following orders” like the Nazis and the Holocaust).

Still mankind has remained pretty flexible and relatively resilient by overcoming and surviving a lot of awful events.

But, can mankind – and I remind us all, that means us all – we humans survive without clean safe water, good food, and healthy air. The short answer is no; not hardly. With that in mind, that is the point of this post: keeping safe our water, food, and air against Mother Nature and how mankind overall has been a piss poor steward of nature and those three things we have become worse and in some cases unmanaged and more so, unmanageable, and more so, since that that first Presidential SOU address in 1790 …

More to the point: Why are so many Republicans in key policy positions in public life so anti-science? A few examples from several sources will emphasize this point:

From the Atlantic (2013 article here), in part: Rep. Paul Broun of Georgia, an M.D. who claims evolution and the Big Bang are “lies straight from the pit of hell” is one rather obvious example — and many more with substantial room for improvement. But Republicans, conservatives, and the religious are no more uniquely “anti-science” than any other demographic or political group. It’s just that “anti-science” has been defined using a limited set of issues that make the right wing and religious look relatively worse.

For those who say, “Damnit keep the politics out – it’s not political, we are concerned about the air, water, and food, so leave the GOP alone,” I offer the following as a counter and background to support what I have said, “… this relates to policy makers in power” and not necessarily Mom and Pop GOPers who are deeply concerned.  From here (New Yorker in 2014) select parts with my emphasis added – the whole article is very good:

Remember when climate change could be a bipartisan issue? Newt Gingrich and Nancy Pelosi did an advertisement together, boasting of their partnership on the challenge it posed.  John McCain believes that man-made climate change is an urgent problem.

[I add at this point: why?]  That decision revolutionized the law of campaign finance; what is less well recognized is that it transformed the climate-change debate, too.

Justice Anthony Kennedy’s majority opinion in Citizens United, in 2010 — the Justices (5-4) were divided — began the Super PAC era in American politics.  At the time, the decision was most remarked upon for its assertion that corporations possessed a right to freedom of speech, under the First Amendment, much as individuals do.  In fact, this part of the case was neither new nor particularly controversial. (Courts have granted corporations and newspapers First Amendment records for decades.)

Far more important was the assertion in Citizens United that money is speech — that money contributed in support of a political campaign is entitled to full First Amendment protections.  This result leads to the conclusion that individuals could give unlimited amounts to support any candidate they wanted, as long as the money was controlled by a nominally independent entity, not the campaign itself.

[Again, I add this is the point]: No one is quite sure who gives how much to the 501(c)(4)’s, because they are allowed to keep their donors’ names secret. But it’s clear that in the forefront of anti-climate-change activism are the Koch brothers, who have invested huge amounts in politics and political candidates since Citizens United.

(Jane Mayer has written about the Koch brothers’ efforts.)  The Koch’s are so prominent that they have become, in effect, gatekeepers for Republican politics. Climate-change denial is now the price of admission to the charmed circle of Republican donors.

Indeed, Americans for Prosperity, an organization heavily supported by the Koch’s, has created a pledge for officeholders to sign, which promises that they will not support any kind of legislation related to climate change that increases government net revenue.

Dozens have signed on, including such likely Presidential candidates as the senators Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, and Marco Rubio. [I note: here is an earlier version of that same kind of anti-climate anything pledge].

It is true that Democrats and the scientific community are not entirely powerless in this debate.  One well-known billionaire, Tom Steyer, has announced plans to spend as much as a hundred million dollars to support candidates who will address climate change. But no one should be misled that this has somehow been a fair fight.

In summary, for those who deny this post, all I can say is that you are wrong – disagree with me, but do not deny the facts of the issue. As they say, “do the math” and certainly do the research as I have – you may reach the same conclusions. The point is, and yes, this should not and indeed must not be political issue. For anyone who thinks I am just picking on Republicans – well, guess what: they have made the picking easy.

Likewise, if DEMS are guilty of things like this, I would criticize them, too. That’s the way I am. If anyone looks around at my other posts they would will see that I have challenged DEMS too when they are wrong. I call that good government oversight on my part – so, how about you? Thanks for stopping by. Labels: and Food (and Medicine), Science is Everyone's Concern re: Air, Water


