Shortly before the president whom the Washington Post did their damnedest to elect took office, the paper was calling for Obama to jack up America’s gas prices back through the roof. And they may soon get their way thanks to his version of Katrina. In the meantime, here’s Eugene Robinson, postmodern Luddite, in the Post:
Yes, many Americans feel good about going through the motions of environmentalism. We’ve made a religion of recycling, which is an important change. We turn off the lights when we leave the room — and we’re even beginning to use fluorescent bulbs. Some of us, though not enough, understand the long-term threat posed by climate change; a subset of those who see the danger are even willing to make lifestyle changes to try to avert a worst-case outcome.
But where the rubber hits the road — in public policy — we’ve reverted to our pre-enlightenment ways. When there’s a perceived conflict between environmental stewardship and economic growth, the bottom line wins.
As soon as Eugene’s employer decides that saving a few million trees is more important than its bottom line, get back to me about any sort of new “enlightenment.”
(Well, they reworked their “news” magazine so that people wouldn’t buy it. Isn’t that a start? — Ed. Touché.)
Incidentally, curious choice of religious metaphors in that above passage, huh?
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