Red Green
No, this article is not about The Red Green Show, a great comedy show that ran from 1991 to 2006 unfortunately. Instead, this is about how many in the Green movement are little more than socialists seeking to obtain authoritarian control of every aspect of our lives.
Normally I don't write articles that do little more than point to another's work, but recently I came across an article that puts together, in one place, so many aspects of the issue that I had to share it. Control By Carbon is a great example of how freedom becomes a bad word in the World of the Green.
From links about attempts to tax procreation, to detalis about how raising CAFE standards actually kills over 7000 Americans for each gallon of gas saved, to California's attempts to have your thermostats controlled by a central agency, the author has done a good job of making painfully clear the point I have been making for quite a while, that government is about force and control.
Some of the more scary 'solutions' detailed:
Every person in Britain would be given a "carbon limit" under radical government plans to limit emissions, it was announced today.
Everybody could be issued with a "carbon credit card" which they would swipe when buying petrol, paying their utility bills, purchasing food, or travelling.
People with lifestyles that are damaging to the environment - such as frequent fliers, motorists who drive gas-guzzling vehicles or people who live in large homes with poor insulation - would have to buy more carbon credits from greener individuals.
Next year in California, state regulators are likely to have the emergency power to control individual thermostats, sending temperatures up or down through a radio-controlled device that will be required in new or substantially modified houses and buildings to manage electricity shortages.
We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good.
- Hillary Clinton
I'm not sure how you get more socialist than that.
But, how can they get away with such a thing? I mean, most people I imagine would stand up and fight such attempts at totalitarian control over their lives, even the English, right?
Aparently not.
Eighty-three percent of people polled in 21 countries said a change in lifestyle and behavior for their countrymen would be necessary to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to the poll from BBC World Service.
You notice, it was not about how a change in their OWN lifestyle would be necessary, something that they have control over now. No, it was how their fellow countrymen would have change THEIR lifestyle, something that only an authoritarian environment would be able to do.
Our environment is a precious thing and there are a lot of things we can do to help protect it. I've been a conservationist for decades and am building a house that will be (hopefully) completely green and off of the grid. But this new breed of political animal that wants to use this issue as a way of controlling people just doesn't fly with me.
However, as I've shown in a previous poll, I am moving slowly into the minority as a defender of our individual rights. They just aren't as important to people as they should be. Well, at least until the rubber meets the road and they are personally prevented from living their lives because of it. THEN you'll see them howl. Of course, by then it will be too late...