coffeeclimber’s Recent Comments

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  Sometimes I'm not sure which is more insulting. The fact that her understanding of reality/logic is so simplified, or that there are people out there who believe her. 

  On Rep. Michele Bachmann says CO2 is 'a natural byproduct of nature' posted 7 months ago 5 Responses

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  Since a fair number of responses have ensued since the article, I want to try and bring back the underlying argument of Dave's post.

   

  I have recently moved from a small town in Northern California which was largely made up of the demographic referred to as "people like myself" two posts earlier, to a town with a more varied political and social demographic. It has been almost unbearably frustrating trying to talk to people who seemingly know nothing of what I now take for common knowledge.  This demographic though still makes up a good deal of our population.

  Yes, I want more when it comes to environmental and energy legislation. But just because we won't get everything we want in one fowl swoop doesn't mean we stop fighting.  In simplistic terms Dave's argument is the old "give a mouse a cookie and he'll ask for a glass a milk".  However, the environmental movement has become so frustrated with our political scene's historic disassociation from the "reality" of climate change, that as we are offered the first step, we have become too jaded to even accept it.  Preaching to the choir, no matter how right the choir may be, is not the most effective strategy.

  Short term compromise is not the same as long term concession. If you still believe that the only way to fix everything is in one fowl swoop, I urge you to stand up, pack your bags, and move out of your intellectual comfort zone to a part of the country where you will be forced to mingle amongst those people you probably like to pretend don't exist.

  Alas, the argument in this article is not about the semantics of calling cap-and-trade a tax or not.  It is about our propensity to dwell on what we are not getting rather than providing support and constructive criticism for a political chance that only a year ago, we would have been ecstatic to see signed into law.

  On An apology and an explanation for Friedman posted 7 months, 3 weeks ago 22 Responses