President Biden: The NEW one and only politics thread

You are preaching to the choir.

But I wasn't discussing climate change or what our future may or may not potentially look like if we don't choose to act.

I was discussing how we should want to regulate people's behavior in a democracy where the rule of law matters.

I'd point out that for every amorphous "Big Business" and "Big Energy" you want to throw at me, I can toss back a "Big ESG" or "Big Environmental Groups" that pushes its way to the table and exerts its influence, too, when it can. That is certainly true within the regulatory agencies, where coming from one of those organizations makes you the expert. It's just as true when we legislate via. ... actual legislation.

Here is my problem (after I said you are preaching to the choir) with hyperbolic appeals to "my grandchildren!" We could try to address climate change with an edict that outlaws fossil fuels tomorrow and forces people to learn how to rub two sticks together if they want to cook their food. It's a cost that most people just aren't willing to pay because of the hit they'd take to their standards of living and qualify of life.

There is no one, "We need to do X immediately!" These are CHOICES that we need to make, and everyone weighs the potential benefits (based on what knowledge we have about global warming, its causes and its effects) vs. the costs of those choices (which we can understand better, because they are more immediate). If we are going to make those choices for everyone by legislating behavior, those laws should come out of a democratic process not by the people who gain executive power being able to circumvent what our elected legislatures do by appointing people who make the rules without any accountability. The courts should have no place in legislating either.

 

BTW, I think there is a certain dishonesty to anyone who argues for agencies like the EPA to be able to regulate all of us autonomously. ... but made a stink over the things that Scott Pruitt did when he was in charge (although I thought there was an odd sort of honesty in that he didn't make any effort to hide the corruption).