Climate change and the common good

People will change their behavior when it is in their personal interest to do so.

Democratic candidates press a "climate change" agenda.

The GOP is dealing with climate change by saying it probably isn't real.

But, if it is real, it isn't the fault of humans.

And even if it is our fault, there isn't much use doing anything about it because it is too expensive.

And besides, whatever we do is a drop in the bucket and inconsequential.

And besides even that, China and India and everyone else are polluting so they make pointless whatever we do by replacing any pollution that we save.

In Oregon, the Democratic majority is considering a "cap and invest" climate bill. Governor Kate Brown supports the bill and says it positions Oregon as a climate change leader--along with California--to "lead and pave the path for other states across the country to follow."

The GOP Senate leader, Herman Baertschiger, Jr. is quoted saying Oregon is a drop in the bucket of carbon pollution, that it is an expense and a waste of effort.  He is on-message, in that it coincides with the overall Trump/GOP position, one which served them well in the energy producing states in Appalachia, North Dakota, Wyoming, Oklahoma, and Texas. There is coal-country in Ohio and Pennsylvania, two swing states critical to the Trump victory.

Trump and Republicans believe they have a powerful political message: lower regulations on American life generally, and especially on energy. Trump said he digs coal, clean coal. Trump speaks proudly of reducing regulations on coal slurry into streams. He also removed the automobile mileage requirements. He is appointing people to a science committee with the specific purpose of refuting evidence of climate change created by his own departments. He doesn't hide this. He brags about this. There is a message here for Democrats. Maybe not everyone is on board with a climate change agenda, at least as soon as it actually forces bother or expense on people.

It is like an unused gym membership. They like it "in general" but not when they actually have to do something about it.

There is a reason Trump and the GOP take this position, even in supposedly environmental-friendly Oregon. It resonates with a lot of people.

Democrats have a risk and an opportunity.

The risk is that they validate the Republican message and create rules that are burdensome and expensive and require sacrifice, toward an uncertain and remote goal.  As Kevin Drum wrote in his commentary on the Green New Deal, Click: Mother Jones 
      
     "Outside of war, I can’t think of an example in all of human history where a large polity—let alone the entire world—willingly made significant sacrifices in service of a fuzzy, uncertain hazard that’s decades away. We are overclocked hairless apes who are simply not designed to think that way. Why would anyone deny this?"

The opportunity for Democrats is that, in fact, Americans do act when they see it to be in their own interest. Americans insulate their houses because it saves them money to do so. They put solar panels on their roofs because it saves them money. They buy electric plug-in cars, and hybrid cars, because it there is social cache' to driving electric cars, plus tax credits, plus cost savings. I drive a hybrid car. I have all the power I need and more, and I get 50 miles per gallon and therefore save money. And the car is really, really quiet at low speeds. I am not sacrificing.

It is not a coincidence that Social Security and Medicare are "socialist" programs that are popular. Everyone pays in, everyone expects to benefit. It isn't sacrifice, it is investment.

Democrats can go the coercion route, in which they ask people to take one for the team. The problem is that the rest of the world is not on the team, and much of the US is not on the team. That doesn't mean Democrats can do nothing.

They can do a lot, especially when they structure climate change programs so that they work with self interest rather than against it.

Governments are instituted among men and derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.