Why Ideological Warfare Over Global Warming Isn't a Bad Thing
Democrats and Republicans played their part in the global warming saga this week. The White House issued a report
showing that global warming was unleashing its wrath on America through mudslides, hurricanes and pests. Republicans trotted out their own brief, dismissing this as the usual liberal gloom and doom.
But I ask in The Week:
Why do Republicans so stubbornly resist the climate change story? It's not like when a tornado touches down, it spares them, targeting only Democrats. Conversely, why are liberals so eager to buy the climate apocalypse? It's not like they can insulate themselves from rising energy prices or job losses that a drastic energy diet would produce.
And the answer is that neither side can check their ideology at the gate before entering the temple of science on this issue. Both view it from the standpoint of their broader normative commitments. Conservatives to avoid Big Government and liberals to promote social justice. If conservatives have a massive blind spot on the issue, liberals have deep tunnel vision.
What's more, I note, this is just as it should be.
To find out why, go here.