Now that Kyrsten Sinema has become an independent, it is time for Mitt Romney to finally come out of the closet. Not as non-binary, although at this point, why not? I mean as a Democrat. Or at the very least, it is time for the official unveiling of the Uniparty with Romney as its head. Then they can all struggle to uphold the status quo until it is time to give them a gold watch and cart them off to The Villages, the Hamptons, or– to join the rest of the prehistoric creatures– the La Brea Tar Pits.
Republicans in Utah have been grousing about Romney almost since the day he won his primary for his Senate seat. And no, I can’t tell you why Mr. Delecto was elected, aside from the fact that he is nominally LDS, ran the 2002 Olympics, and then had a failed bid for the presidency. Which I guess qualifies him as a celebrity.
Back in 2012, both Rolling Stone and The Huffington Post slammed Romney hard for his support of the Keystone XL pipeline, increased drilling, and fossil fuels development. At the time, Romney was championing energy independence and job creation. That was in 2012. This is 2022.
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On Thursday, Romney participated in a Washington Post webinar about climate change, according to the Washington Examiner. During the webinar, Romney expressed his support for a carbon tax. Such a tax, he maintained, would help get private industry off of the proverbial dime and develop new technology. He told those in attendance:
“The folks at MIT, as you probably know, built a model saying, ‘Okay, what things that we do, will actually reduce emissions, reduce temperatures or hold temperatures from going up as fast as they have it. What can we do?’ And the number one thing, and frankly, the only thing that had a major impact was having a price on carbon, the carbon tax either through or through a whole series of mechanisms, but a carbon tax or some kind of price on carbon with border adjustment taxes. That’s the only thing that has a significant impact.
I would note that a price on carbon is a way of not just raising money for the government. That’s not the purpose of it. The price the reason for putting a price on carbon is to create a massive incentive for the private sector to innovate and to create innovations. Which will be low emitting, and low cost, and therefore will be adopted not just here, but adopted voluntarily in India and Brazil and China. That’s what we have to do things that get accepted globally.”
He said that the Democrat strategy of doing things that look good on paper, like energy-efficient buildings and electric vehicles, is not a long-term solution for lowering emissions. Romney lamented the fact that Democrats failed to impose a carbon tax when they controlled the White House, Senate, and Congress. To his credit, he did support more investments in nuclear power and natural gas.
As easy as it is to say the words “carbon tax,” it is another matter altogether to carry the burden. That burden, of course, would not fall on an industry, or Romney’s fellow legislators. It would fall on ordinary Americans, including Romney’s own constituents. And that also includes Utah communities that have relied on oil, gas, and coal for their economic well-being. While he can pay lip service to natural gas, he knows full well that there are moves in progress to exclude it from the national portfolio.
Once again, Romney has scented the wind to see which direction might be the most advantageous for him to drift. If nothing else, he can add being the leading member of the Grifter Caucus in the Okefenokee Beltway to his resume.
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