So what about the real crises emerging today? In particular, what about the very real crisis threatening our very existence? We've been seeing even more evidence of it lately as massive wildfires have ripped through Nevada forests north and south. Climate change is clearly here, and there's still far more to do for us to survive it.
Yet despite all the mounting evidence of the fast approaching climate catastrophe, the 21st Century Know Nothings continue to deny reality. This is why President Obama has had trouble getting any kind of climate action through Congress. And now, one prominent Congressional Republican staffer writing under the pseudonym Eric Bradenson is finally asking his party to stop denying reality and come to the table with real solutions.
Someone in the GOP needs to say it: conservation is conservative; climate change is real; and conservatives need to lead on solutions because we have better answers than the other side. [...]
Republicans don't have to choose between conceding to the left and denying the science. There are genuine pro-growth solutions that align with conservative values. Republicans can admit that 97 percent of scientists just might be right without having to embrace Democratic ideas that would grow government.
Well, this looks encouraging... But is it really? Here's Steve Benen with some ice cold water to throw onto this hot new item.
In 2013, with the threats posed by the climate crisis intensifying, a Republican staffer on Capitol Hill is only willing to acknowledge reality if he can do so pseudonymously.
[Joe] Romm added that article "was awarded second place in the 'Young Conservative Thought Leaders' contest from the Energy & Enterprise Initiative at George Mason University." The organizers at the Initiative agreed not to publish the author's real name "for job security reasons."
In other words, to write a piece making the case that Republicans can "win the climate debate" by pushing conservative solutions to a real problem, is to put one's job in Republican politics in jeopardy.
This really isn't healthy.
It truly isn't. Even with the overwhelming scientific consensus and growing physical evidence all around us, the only way a DC Republican could ask his party to get real on climate change was with a pseudonym?! Is this for real?
Sadly, it is. Because G-O-TEA politicians are too afraid to admit the truth, we see this ongoing game of climate charade in DC. Can we afford to continue with this? We keep missing out on opportunities to improve our economy and save ourselves every time we fail to act. Do they really want to risk greater catastrophe by continuing the great climate charade?
