When those who agree can’t agree

Last updated on: December 23, 2009 at 5:00 am by Gene Veith

The Copenhagen summit called by the United Nations to put together a global response to global warming ended without an agreement. BBC asks Why did Copenhagen fail to deliver a climate deal? and goes on to propose some answers:

The summit failed to deliver a way to halt dangerous climate change
About 45,000 travelled to the UN climate summit in Copenhagen – the vast majority convinced of the need for a new global agreement on climate change.

So why did the summit end without one, just an acknowledgement of a deal struck by five nations, led by the US.

And why did delegates leave the Danish capital without agreement that something significantly stronger should emerge next year?

This is an example of a larger phenomenon: Often people who agree with each other on the fundamental issues nevertheless have trouble agreeing on specific proposals. We are also seeing this in the Democratic debate in Congress over the Health Care Bill. Virtually all of the Democrats want Health Care Reform. (One who didn’t, Rep. Parker Griffith of Alabama just announced that he is changing parties and becoming a Republican

.) And yet the Democrats are having trouble coming up with a bill that all of them agree on. We also see this in the church. Also academia. Also business organizations. Why do you think this is? Is it individual or group interests getting in the way?

At any rate, this is not always a bad thing, as in the case (in my opinion) of the Copenhagen summit.