The left would have us believe that to be an environmentalist you have to believe in catastrophic threats, dramatic increases in government power and economically draconian solutions. Such a big-government bureaucracy, trial-lawyer-litigation and excessive-regulation “environmentalism” does a poor job of protecting the environment while it erodes individual freedom, destroys jobs and weakens our country.
The time has come for the development of a mainstream environmentalism as an alternative to big bureaucracy and big litigation environmentalism. You could call it “green conservatism,” but it’s really the mainstream environmental approach that has worked so well in the United States. President Theodore Roosevelt epitomized this approach when he said, “The movement for the conservation of wild life and the larger movement for the conservation of all our natural resources are essentially democratic in spirit, purpose and method.
One of the things that truly bothers me about “the right” is that they have allowed the environmentalist-left to define the situation. This seems to be a regular behavior of the Republican Party as a whole. Of course, “the right” has ignored the environmentalist-left for so long that even those of us supposedly on “the right” don’t want to be painted with the environmentalist tag, as it invariably comes with a “left-leaning” connotation.
“Right-wing Christian” people are starting to attempt to redefine the framework and are being vilified by both “the right” and “the left.” I’ve been recycling since I was a kid. There are stories about my avidness that cause many to just shake their heads. I understand what happens when things are no longer repaired, but just thrown out.
What has happened in regards to environmentalism is what is happening to the entire democratic (yes, officially republic) system and the society of the Unites States as a whole—over politization.
I’m all for a candidate who will “heal” the nation, but that won’t happen. I wish I could figure out how to get people that are so busy vilifying the other guy to talk. Maybe, for once, something good might actually get done, rather than political payoff and pork.