Dangerous Denial

There is a report just released by the Bush administration confirming that the climate on Earth is changing at an alarming and dangerous rate. Note the lack of a "breaking news" label.


So why is this report just being released now? Good question.

The Bush administration released a climate change assessment on Thursday -- four years late and pushed forward by a court order --
that said human-induced global warming will likely lead to problems like droughts in the U.S. West and stronger hurricanes. source

This is not new information but it's breathtaking just how difficult it was for right wingers to admit the obvious. Many people are puzzled as to why conservatives would bother to deny that the climate is changing on Earth. I think I may have it figured out. I think the delay was due to the conservatives in power having to admit things they were determined to deny. First, they had to admit the earth was round and more than 5,000 years old. Then they had to be convinced that we are dependant on a mild climate on earth to survive as a species. Then, they had to acknowledge that the climate is changing (after calling the scientific evidence liberal spin). Finally - and probably the real reason conservatives refused to go down this road at all, they had to admit that business would have to adjust their behavior along with individuals to preserve the only home humans have. Business leaders that have bankrolled the conservative movement had not planned on adjusting their operations or profits because of changes in the climate. Therefore, since this wasn't in the plans - acknowledging the truth about climate change was just not going to happen in a Republican administration. Yes, it was all to much to go against their business interests, fundamentalist religious leaders and their own disinterest in "facts" or "the truth" to even entertain information about climate change! That is why, in my opinion, all this time has gone by without any response to the most serious problem in the history of human kind.

We have all come to see how this conservative political movement was based on myths and misinformation. A vast majority of Americans now realize that this mentality got us into Iraq, damaged the economy and cause the sinking of our influence and reputation around the world. But the story of the suppression of the Climate change report by the Bush administration highlights what might be the most damaging legacy of the "Denial Years". In order to keep the Republican base happy, a program of Climate Change Denial was thought up by people like Karl Rove, spread by folks like Rush Limbaugh and believed, for two elections, by a public who just could not believe that "God fearing, flag wearing, self-proclaimed patriots" would put the public at such grave risk. But they did. And it was good for them. They won both their elections and now landed well paid jobs in the private sector. Good for them. Bad for the rest of us. Please pass the sunscreen.