Upon the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, hundreds of millions of Americans rejoiced as with a voice. And a grateful world watched in awe as the Doomsday Clock was turned back. But, what, some may wonder, ever became of the Soviet apologists here in the U.S.
You probably remember these types. Telling Americans how wondrous the Soviet economy was, when it wasn’t. How much smarter the Soviet scientists were, when they weren’t. How benevolent their dictators were – even while without remorse their killing fields, gulags, State-sanctioned famines and genocides eliminated over 100 million human beings.
And after the fall of the USSR, they were telling everyone how the failure was because “true” communism had not been attempted. And even that the real reason the “noble” experiment in utopianism failed was because the capitalist West undermined the great crusade.
So, where are these people now? Where are those who for 70 years found favor without fault in the Soviet Union’s oppressive expansionism? Those who scoffed at the plight of Captive Nations and applauded the fight for egalitarianism? In short, where have all the Flower Children gone? Well, they’ve gone Green, everyone. They have embraced the Cult of Global Warming. And taken up residence on K Street NW in the nation’s capital.
Sure, they have new digs and new gigs, but like the Soviet apologists of old, their goal remains the same: the destruction of the U.S. economy – and free markets – through overregulation and overtaxation. Sure, they pay lip service that they are trying to “help” out the little guy, while simultaneously slipping on the shackles of slavery.
Of course, their malevolence is only on par with the sheer incompetence of their policy prescriptions. In “A New ‘Green’ Body Count Begins”, JunkScience.com’s Steven Milloy outlines some of the follies of green totalitarianism:
“Food riots caused by rising food prices have erupted around the world. Five people died in riots in Haiti — perhaps the first of many casualties yet to come from the current fad of being “green.”… Food riots also broke out in Egypt, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Senegal, and Ethiopia. The military is being deployed in Pakistan and Thailand to protect fields and warehouses. Higher energy costs and policies promoting the use of biofuels like ethanol are being blamed.
“‘When millions of people are going hungry, it’s a crime against humanity that food should be diverted to biofuels,’ an Indian government official told the Wall Street Journal. Turkey’s finance minister labeled the use of biofuels as ‘appalling,’ according to paper.
“Biofuels have turned out to be a lose-lose-lose proposition. Once touted by the Greens and the biofuel industry as being able to reduce the demand for oil and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, biofuels have accomplished neither goal and have no prospect of accomplishing either in the foreseeable future. The latest research shows, in fact, that biofuels actually increase greenhouse gas emissions on a total lifecycle basis.
“Add in that taxpayer-subsidized diversion of food crops and food crop acreage to fuel production has contributed to higher food prices and reduced food supply, and biofuels turn out to be nothing less than a public policy disaster.”
Whoops! Worldwide hunger? Poverty? Oh well, no harm done… But they’re not through yet:
“Food riots are only the tip of the Green iceberg. We might also expect energy riots to erupt one day… The plain fact is that the world has an ever-growing population that needs more and more energy. But the greens are doing everything they can to constrict the world’s energy supply.
“As the Sierra Club campaigns to shutdown our coal-fired electricity capabilities, the Natural Resources Defense Council campaigns to prevent nuclear power from taking its place. The demise of coal-fired power and the blockage of increased nuclear power will necessarily increase the demand for, supply constraints on and prices for natural gas.
“But then again, Earth First! is perhaps helping to alleviate the need the looming natural gas crisis by campaigning against power plants that use the fuel. In a recent campaign against a South Florida power plant, an Earth First! Campaigner stated that the environment ought not be threatened ‘so that people can fuel their greedy energy desires.’
“‘Just say No to electricity,’ seems to be the bottom line of eco-think.”
Brilliant! High food prices, high energy prices, more demand, less supply… Is there anything else that the Greens and Big Government can muck up? National Review’s Angela Logomasini adds even more weight to the case against the Greens in “Will Liberty Go Extinct?”:
“An analysis of all the public laws passed between 1970 and 2005 shows environmental policymaking to be the leading area of lawmaking (excluding symbolic legislation). Further analysis shows that the overwhelming majority of these laws had significant impacts (and many quite major) and an overwhelming majority advance government controls on the economy, land use, and individuals…
“[A] federal reform of pesticides legislation in 1996 made the law even more stringent, leading to removal of many valuable products from the marketplace. Similarly, the 1996 reforms to the Safe Drinking Water Act allowed bureaucrats to ratchet up tap water regulations — costing small communities billions in return for little benefit. In 2002, President Bush’s so called ‘brownfield bill’ — which was supposed to help promote urban revitalization by restoring abandoned properties — increased federal involvement in an area that is much better left to local governments and private parties.
“The only legislation that now receives serious consideration are bills advanced by the greens. Pending on the Hill is a bill that would ‘reform’ the Clean Water Act in a way that would essentially give the feds power not only over ‘navigable’ waters, but all ‘waters of the United States.’ Basically, that would give D.C. bureaucrats the power to regulate every indentation on the ground that collects water, as well as swimming pools, rain barrels, even buckets of water in your backyard.
“Even when legislation stalls, greens still win. Consider the Endangered Species Act (ESA): or the past two decades, environmental activists have successfully defeated efforts to compensate property owners for financial losses produced by ESA regulations.”
Economic detriments, land use restrictions, sanctions upon individuals, etc. Whammo. The Greens have managed to regulate every facet of life, which by definition is totalitarianism. How can they be so influential when they are so detrimental? Ms. Logomasini has the answer:
“A key reason for the greens success is that they have not only some powerful symbols — like bald eagles and polar bears — they have the money, as a quick review of IRS documents shows. In 2005, the reported income for just three activist environmental groups totals about $300 million — over $76 million for the Natural Resources Defense Council, over $67 million for Environmental Defense, and over $155 million for The Trust for Public Land — and there are dozens more groups with similarly large budgets.
“Free-market public policy groups in Washington, D.C. spend a paltry sum by comparison, with only a handful devoting portions of their much smaller budgets to cover environmental issues — CEI reported $3.2 million in total 2005 revenue; the National Center for Public Policy Research reported $7.4 million in 2005; and the Marshall Institute, which reported $812,674 in 2005.”
With numbers like that, it is easy to see what free markets and their advocates are up against: a multi-headed hydra with vast reach and resources to achieve its ominous ends. And this monster is growing as the liberty of individuals shrinks in accordance.
The Soviet apologists are alive and well, and they have not loosened their grip upon the throats of those that love freedom. As Ms. Logomasini writes, “It is high time for advocates of liberty to rethink their approach and level of focus on the environment. Otherwise, in another few decades, we will [be] the species gone extinct.”
And the aging, antiquated Flower Children, along with their legions of young, self-absorbed Fellow Travelers – will have left a swath of scorched earth and barren lands… “gone to the graveyards everyone.”
ALG Perspective: Like the Soviets of old, the Greens today are simultaneously incompetent and dangerous. As another Earth Day comes and goes, the American people must reconsider the approach of Big Government over the past many decades where Earth-worship is prioritized over a sound economic and public policy which empowers individuals to make choices.
