First health care, then the environment
“President Obama is the most radical leader in U.S. history,” writes Jeffrey Kuhner in the Washington Times today. And while much of the country is alarmed by his dangerous health-care agenda, “his environmentalist agenda is just as dangerous,” observes Kuhner.
The president’s cap-in-trade bill is a case in point. Under the system, every business in America that emits carbon dioxide would be required to purchase permits from the government. Over time, carbon emission permits would be curbed, driving up the value of permits, spurring trade of the permits on the open market. The plan may sound reasonable, but if passed “it will destroy America’s free-market system,” says Kuhner.
Cap-and-trade would impose huge costs on the economy and undermine job creation. Moreover, it would transform America into an impoverished socialist superstate. It would create a new ruling class that would oversee economic development, forcing an eco-friendly lifestyle on every resident.
The bill, which is rooted in the increasingly discredited idea of man-made global warming, has already been passed by the House of Representatives. Kuhner’s fear is that if Mr. Obama gets his way on health care, the cap-in-trade bill might ride the momentum and also be passed into law. Should this occur, the president will have successfully imposed his socialist agenda on the American lifestyle.
The impact would be felt by everyone, notes Kuhner:
It would … dramatically erode our standard of living. In a rare, candid moment during the 2008 election campaign, Mr. Obama admitted his goal was to scale back Americans’ consumption, including driving big cars, using air conditioning and eating cheeseburgers: He wants to reduce our prosperity.
He then quotes Mr. Obama as saying,
We can’t drive our suvs, and eat whatever we want, and keep our homes at 72 [degrees] all the time, whether we live in the desert or the tundra, and keep consuming 25 percent of the world’s resources with just 4 percent of the world’s population, and expect the rest of the world to say “You just go ahead. We’ll be fine.” That’s not leadership. That’s not going to happen.
To learn more of the worrying details about cap-in-trade, and exactly how this bill is being used to radically change America, read the Kuhner piece in its entirety. Also, read what we wrote here.
