It is puzzling that conservatives are so thick headed about the environment while claiming the mantel of Teddy Roosevelt or even Edmund Burke. Denying global warming and climate change is not real conservatism, which is anti-monopoly, anti-big business as much as it is anti-big government, rather they are apologists for corporate capitalism, they are ne-cons which is not a traditional conservative position at all.
In a WSJ opinion piece on Burke, Jeffery Hart quotes Burke on Beauty, that is nature...
Among the needs of civilization is what Burke called the "unbought grace of
life." The word "unbought" should be pondered. Beauty has been clamorously
present in the American Conservative Mind through its almost total absence. The
tradition of regard for woodland and wildlife was present from the beginnings of
the nation and continued through conservative exemplars such as the Republican
Theodore Roosevelt, who established the National Parks. Embarrassingly for
conservatives (at least one hopes it is embarrassing), stewardship of the
environment is now left mostly to liberal Democrats.
Not all ideas and initiatives by liberals are bad ones. Burke's unbought beauties are part of
civilized life, and therefore ought to occupy much of the Conservative Mind. The
absence of this consideration remains a mark of yahooism and is prominent in
Republicanism today. As if by an intrinsic law, when the free market becomes a
kind of utopianism it maximizes ordinary human imperfection--here, greed, short
views and the resulting barbarism.
Oh dear what does that say about the so called conservatives that want to drill for about six months worth of oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. Forever destroying the open range of the declining caribou herds. What would Burke and Roosevelt say?
Arctic Power regroups after another ANWR defeat
Associated Press
According to the Associated Press, the lobbying group Arctic Power says it
will consult with Alaska Senator Ted Stevens before deciding its next move.
Arctic Power is the nonprofit group that lobbies for the opening of the
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to petroleum drilling. The U.S. Senate last week
refused to include the drilling measure in a defense spending bill. Jerry Hood
says the group is not ready to give up. He says be believes a measure can pass
Congress.
Opponent David van den Berg is director of the Northern Alaska
Environmental Center. He says that with a billion-dollar surplus, the
Legislature is likely to continue to support Arctic Power. The Legislature gave
Arctic Power more than a million dollars this year.
State Senator Gary
Wilken says he thinks of money for Arctic Power as an investment to help the
next generation of Alaskans. The Fairbanks Republican says if the Legislature
continues to see Arctic Power as an investment, it will find money for the group
A tip o' the blog to Northwestern Winds for the Burke lead
Also See:Arctic
Melt Down
Weather
Report
Arctic
on the Rocks
Global
Warming:
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