I find this extremely upsetting. According to The New York Times, the billionaire Koch brothers are not just indifferent to solar energy, but actively trying to reverse alternative energy policies in the United States wherever they are found, state by state. They want more carbon emissions. More. They’re strategizing ways to make this happen. They don’t even want to pretend that it’s good public policy to try to slow or reverse current carbon emission trends globally. I had no idea. If this is Tea Party libertarianism, no sane person with children or grandchildren should want any part of it. For the sake of the human future, Republicans and Democrats should be able to find solidarity in some sort of pro-business route to a sustainable future. It’s a point where we ought to all be able to intersect as Americans and as human beings. The sustainable future part of this equation is where liberals can support business ventures and conservatives can support ecology and efficiency, but the Koch brothers want to impede even this minimal contact between the parties. It’s a scorched earth policy, literally, that they’re pursuing. All I can say is wow.
Here’s an interesting segment on the subject that I found on YouTube:
And here’s another:
I’ll respond to the videos, since I don’t have a subscription to the New York Times, and am therefore unable to read the article:
1. A billionaire invested heavily in natural gas attempting to of course going to want to frame the argument around political boogie men to promote policies favorable to natural gas.
2. The Koch brothers are of course going to push for legislation that favors their business strategy instead.
So what does this mean? It means that we have some vested interests, who want government to favor their businesses pointing the finger at those attempting to use the government to favor theirs instead. To this the libertarian would say, “Well duh. That’s why energy subsidies are a bad idea in general, as they distort the market and kill competition and innovation.”
However a liberal would say, “The Koch brothers give to libertarian institutions. Therefore Koch brothers represent libertarianism. These policies that benefit the Koch brothers would lead to global warming. Therefore libertarians want global warming!”
One of these responses is tribalistic nonsense that shows an inability to comprehend concepts outside of the actors they use to personify them in their imagined narrative. Seriously Santi, this is some really low level stuff.