Pete DuPont has one of the best, though most disturbing, analysis of the recent global warming debate in the Wall Street Journal. Here’s the ending:
The core of the Boxer-Lieberman-Warner legislation is that an expanded government, not the market economy, must control our society. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has produced a chart–click here to see it–showing that the bill “contains over 300 regulations and mandates,” each of which must go through a federal regulatory process.
The bill does focus on some global warming objectives–although it is an America-only program estimated to lower global CO2 emissions only by about 1.4%–but it is less about that and more a step towards traditional socialism. The government would take control of our economy and regulate everything from electricity, oil and gas to imported shoes, our food, how high we may set our thermostats, and what kinds of light bulbs we may use. The EPA and the Energy Information Agency predict such controls would reduce GDP by “as much as seven percent (over $2.8 trillion) by 2050 and reduce U.S. manufacturing output by almost 10 percent by 2030.”
Add to that the fact that Barack Obama and John McCain both support the bill, and that the next Congress is likely to have bigger Democratic majorities, and one can see in the next administration where a very collectivist America will be headed.
The only good news is that it seems that a growing number of people are questioning the science and the logic of such massive government action. Will it be in time? We can only hope.