Obama Moralizing More on Green Energy

While Republicans love to mock his line about his nomination for the presidency being the moment when “the oceans stopped their rise,” environmental issues are a huge deal for Democrats. Remember, Pew studies consistently find that liberals have the lowest levels of religious participation and belief and atheists and agnostics are much more influential in Democratic politics than they are in Republican circles. Non-believers are inclined to feel more responsible for the condition of the planet than those who believe that our existence is not an accident of biochemistry. Plus, environmentalism provides a way for liberals to be moralizers and to demonize their foes. Republicans, who are overwhelmingly Christian, are much more comfortable with the language of good and evil and rendering judgment on moral issues like gayness. But environmentalism gives Democrats, including their many non-believing members, the chance to be scolds. The unifying theory of global warming also lends Democrats the chance to denounce their enemies and satisfies their inner Cotton Mathers. After all, can one be blamed for hating a person who is actively endangering all life on earth? Oil companies are to the left what Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, is to the right. It is through this political prism that much of Obama’s policy passes...more