{"id":26643,"date":"2015-02-01T16:22:27","date_gmt":"2015-02-01T21:22:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/?p=26643"},"modified":"2015-02-01T16:22:27","modified_gmt":"2015-02-01T21:22:27","slug":"why-the-republican-party-cannot-as-michael-gerson-suggests-raise-questions-about-climate-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2015\/02\/01\/why-the-republican-party-cannot-as-michael-gerson-suggests-raise-questions-about-climate-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the Republican Party cannot, as Michael Gerson suggests, ‘raise questions’ about climate change"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

This is a welcome effort from former George W. Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson: \u201cAn invasion of artificial outrage<\/a>.\u201d It\u2019s a belated, but commendable, attempt to address the \u201cdanger [that] comes when talk radio becomes the voice inside your head.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gerson makes some good points about the way extremist hyperbole \u201cis often a form of self-elevation.\u201d (Always good to see that somebody\u2019s been reading his Niebuhr.) I do wonder if he\u2019s ever thought to apply that argument to the policies and rhetoric of his own anti-abortion movement<\/a>, but let\u2019s leave that for another time.<\/p>\n

Gerson\u2019s description of this tendency toward extremist, sky-is-falling rhetoric is helpful:<\/p>\n

Jindal could have used his platform as a prospective presidential candidate to make points about the (very real) dangers of radicalization. Instead, he talks of invasion, colonization and conquest.<\/p>\n

This is both appalling and symptomatic. In our politics, ideological assertions tend to gain an immediate, massive velocity. It is not enough to raise questions about global warming; it must be, according to Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), the \u201cgreatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people.\u201d It is not sufficient to call for improved control of the border; immigrant children may be carriers of Ebola, as Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) once asserted. It is zero to 100 in no time flat.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That example of Sen. Inhofe, I think, illustrates what Gerson is missing in his observation of this \u201cappalling\u201d tendency toward this kind of extreme, Manichaean rhetoric. Rather than the absurd claim that climate science is \u201cthe greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people,\u201d Gerson would prefer that his fellow Republicans simply \u201craise questions about global warming.\u201d<\/p>\n

OK, great. Please proceed. Raise whatever questions you\u2019d like to raise. Ask away.<\/p>\n

But the problem here is that asking questions entails the possibility that those questions might have answers.<\/p>\n

\"This<\/a>
This stuff traps heat, whether or not we\u2019d prefer otherwise.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the case of the questions that Michael Gerson or James Inhofe might want to raise about climate change, those questions do have answers. Solid, clear, formidable answers. The kind of answers that make it impossible to continue asking those questions in good faith.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s why \u201craising questions about global warming\u201d is not an option for a guy like Sen. Inhofe. His problem is not that he has unanswered questions. His problem is that he knows his questions have been answered and he doesn\u2019t like the answers. He\u2019s trying to avoid those answers \u2014 and that makes asking those questions the last<\/em> thing he wants to do.<\/p>\n

Gerson admirably would prefer that our political discourse be shaped by a calm, reasonable assessment of established facts and a prudent, logical consideration of possible actions. That\u2019s a lovely thought, but it\u2019s of no use to Sen. Inhofe if he hopes to continue denying the existence of climate change. Facts, reason, logic and prudence aren\u2019t luxuries he can afford if he wants to maintain his current position.<\/p>\n

The old lawyer\u2019s joke explains Inhofe\u2019s\u00a0predicament: If the facts are on your side, pound on the facts. If the law is on your side, pound on the law. If neither the facts nor the law are on your side, pound on the table<\/em>. Inhofe\u2019s \u201cartificial outrage\u201d may be ridiculous and dishonest, but it\u2019s the only form of pounding on the table that\u2019s left to him. The \u201cquestions\u201d that Gerson would have him raise have already been answered, definitively, and there\u2019s no way he can win this argument or this political struggle if he plays by Gerson\u2019s rules.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no way Inhofe can win\u00a0if he plays by any<\/em> rules. So he\u2019s throwing out the rulebook and just making stuff up.<\/p>\n

Inhofe, McConnell, Boehner, et. al. have shown that can work in the short term, if we accept their premise that securing short-term political advantages means something is \u201cworking.\u201d But in the long run, they still have to live in the same world as everybody else. Denying reality doesn\u2019t mean you can put off living in it forever.<\/p>\n

In that sense, Inhofe and McConnell would seem to be Keynesians \u2014 agreeing with the economist\u2019s observation that, \u201cIn the long run, we\u2019re all dead.\u201d<\/p>\n

They are, as Ian Welsh argues<\/a>, making a death bet:<\/p>\n

In it\u2019s pure form, the death bet is just that, a bet that when the bill comes due, you\u2019ll be dead. If you live a good life and die owing millions, well, what do you care?<\/p>\n

\u2026 \u00a0The death bet is why we are not dealing with climate change, even though we know that it is coming and we know it will kill hundreds of millions and might even destroy our entire society. The death bet is why our governments make huge tax cuts today knowing that either taxes will have to be increased in the future or spending will have to be drastically cut. But in the meantime the government can borrow, or print money, so who cares? The politicians who make the tax cuts won\u2019t be in power, and many of the people who receive the cuts will be dead, so what do they care?<\/p>\n

The death bet is why America had a 2.4 trillion dollar infrastructure deficit as of 2009. It is why Californians voted in 1978 to disallow property tax increases of more than 2 percent per year. And it is why tuition rates have increased by hundreds of percentage points more than inflation in many countries.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Michael Gerson is upset because the outlandishly false things his fellow Republicans \u2014 Inhofe, Jindal, Gingrey, etc. \u2014 keep saying make his party seem irrational and unreasonable. But if Welsh is right \u2014 and I think he is \u2014 then their apparent irrationality is actually quite reasonable. It\u2019s the cold, pathological logic of a death bet.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rather than the absurd claim that climate science is “the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people,” Gerson would prefer that his fellow Republicans simple “raise questions about global warming.” OK, great. Please proceed. Raise whatever questions you’d like to raise. Ask away. But the problem here is that asking questions entails the possibility that those questions might have answers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":141,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[10,105,15],"class_list":["post-26643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-class-warfare","tag-agnotology","tag-civility","tag-environment"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy the Republican Party cannot, as Michael Gerson suggests, 'raise questions' about climate change<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Rather than the absurd claim that climate science is "the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people," Gerson would prefer that his fellow Republicans simple "raise questions about global warming." OK, great. Please proceed. Raise whatever questions you'd like to raise. Ask away. 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Raise whatever questions you'd like to raise. Ask away. 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A former managing editor of Prism magazine, Fred worked in the parachurch nonprofit world for a decade and then for a decade in the newspaper biz. He began blogging in 2002. In 2003 he began writing a review of the best-selling Left Behind series. Eight years later he still hasn\u2019t finished reviewing the second book of that series and the experience has left him a broken shell of a man. Fred knows the difference between the possessive \u201cits\u201d and the contraction \u201cit\u2019s,\u201d and he is acutely bothered when others mistakenly confuse the two, yet he himself just kind of instinctively types the apostrophe whether or not it belongs there. Some feel this is his greatest hypocrisy, but those who know him better know better. He\u2019s guilty of much greater hypocrisies. Jesus loves Fred far more than Fred loves Jesus, but he at least has the decency to recognize the unfairness of that lopsided relationship and he has long wished that he were better at maybe kind of sort of doing something more to correct that some day. A Baptist, an amateur, a Gen-Xer, a Gemini and a Mets fan, Fred lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and two teenage daughters. You can reach him via email at slacktivist at hotmail dot com.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/author\/fredclark1\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why the Republican Party cannot, as Michael Gerson suggests, 'raise questions' about climate change","description":"Rather than the absurd claim that climate science is \"the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people,\" Gerson would prefer that his fellow Republicans simple \"raise questions about global warming.\" OK, great. Please proceed. 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A former managing editor of Prism magazine, Fred worked in the parachurch nonprofit world for a decade and then for a decade in the newspaper biz. He began blogging in 2002. In 2003 he began writing a review of the best-selling Left Behind series. Eight years later he still hasn\u2019t finished reviewing the second book of that series and the experience has left him a broken shell of a man. Fred knows the difference between the possessive \u201cits\u201d and the contraction \u201cit\u2019s,\u201d and he is acutely bothered when others mistakenly confuse the two, yet he himself just kind of instinctively types the apostrophe whether or not it belongs there. Some feel this is his greatest hypocrisy, but those who know him better know better. He\u2019s guilty of much greater hypocrisies. Jesus loves Fred far more than Fred loves Jesus, but he at least has the decency to recognize the unfairness of that lopsided relationship and he has long wished that he were better at maybe kind of sort of doing something more to correct that some day. A Baptist, an amateur, a Gen-Xer, a Gemini and a Mets fan, Fred lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and two teenage daughters. You can reach him via email at slacktivist at hotmail dot com.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/author\/fredclark1\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/141"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26643\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}