The Republican Party’s dilemma on the issue of global warming in its leadership is not only at odds with climate scientists, academies of science and scientific organizations around the world, the majority of economists, conservative political parties of major developed countries, and the majority of the U.S. electorate, but also with the majority of their own party.
The reality is they are at odds with reality.
NASA states, “Multiple studies published in peer-reviewed scientific journals show that 97 percent or more of actively publishing climate scientists agree: Climate-warming trends over the past century are very likely due to human activities. In addition, most of the leading scientific organizations worldwide have issued public statements endorsing this position.”
NYU Law School’s Institute for Policy Integrity recently surveyed roughly 300 authors of climate change-related articles published in the past 15 years in the top 25 economics journals. They found most economists (89 percent) believe unmitigated climate change will be a serious problem for the U.S. economy, and most (93 percent) believe immediate action is warranted.
The Guardian, reviewed a study published in the journal Politics and Policy by Sondre Båtstrand at the University of Bergen in Norway last October. The study compared the climate positions of nine conservative political parties around the world, including the U.S., U.K., Norway, Sweden, Spain, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and German and found that the U.S. Republican Party is the only conservative party to reject the need to take action to address climate change.
A new national survey by the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication (PCCC), “Voters Prefer Candidates who Support Climate-Friendly Policies,” finds that “majorities of registered Democrats, independents and liberal and moderate Republicans want climate action, will vote for candidates who will support it and represent the mainstream of American voters.”
The Yale study continues “Too often, the debate about climate is portrayed as one between Democrats and Republicans. In fact, it’s not. It’s a debate between most Americans and conservative Republicans. Liberal and moderate Republicans often have views about global warming that are similar to Democrats and independents.”
Another Yale PCCC study, finds “In contrast to the current goal of Republican leaders in Congress to block EPA regulations on carbon dioxide, over half of all Republicans support regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant, including conservatives.”
Another Guardian article, “Fox News Republican Debate Moderators Asked a Climate Question” (Feb. 1), states “Climate change has sadly turned into an ideological litmus test. Republican candidates fear that if they admit human-caused global warming is a problem that we need to solve, they won’t be able to win their party’s nomination. As Graham and Pataki’s candidacies showed, that may be true.”
The article continues “However, a growing number of Republican thought leaders and even a majority of Republican voters support a revenue-neutral carbon tax. The problem is that while they represent a majority of the party, the conservative right-wing of the party that imposes ideological purity tests dominates the primary election voting. This may be a flaw in the American political system, since a candidate who can pass the right-wing ideological purity test is unlikely to win a nationwide general election.”
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell recently criticized party leaders, saying “It should be obvious to party leaders that they cannot keep saying and doing the things that they are doing and hope to be successful in national-level elections in the future …”
Global warming was not always a partisan issue: “Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush actively promoted measures to combat climate change, according to recently declassified records” that the George Washington University-based National Security Archive posted. “The posting reveals a desire by the two Republican leaders from the 1980s for strong American leadership on climate issues that sometimes resembles the Obama White House view more than that of many of today’s top GOP officials — or presidential candidates.”
As the undeniable reality of global warming and climate change is experienced by more and more people everywhere, the Republican Party’s dilemma will grow. Having mislead so profoundly, on an issue so firmly rooted in basic science and so clear to see, how could they ever be trusted again? And as they start trying to spin their way out of past words and actions, denying they ever did anything wrong, will we fall for it?
William Gran, now retired, was an adjunct instructor at Greenfield Community College on global warming and climate change. He can be reached at whgran@gmail.com