The Environmentalists’ War on the Poor

Posted on June 14, 2007

Denver has recently announced a policy that plans to remove 500,000 cars from the road in an aggressive attempt to curb the effects of global warming. This follows on the heels of other plans nationwide to reduce emissions as well as commentary from elites who encourage the further increase in gas prices so fewer people will be able to drive, or at least, will moderate their driving habits.

There is on thing that immediately comes to mind about the Denver plan. To identify which 500,000 cars will be taken off the road, line up every resident with a car and have them organized from poorest to richest. Then count off the first 500,000 starting from the poor end. Those are the people who won't have cars anymore. It's just that simple.

These attempts to curb global warming by "modifying behavior" are all designed to simply increase the cost of normal human activity. The result is that the people who are priced out of the game are the poor. An example is in order.

Take Al "the Goracle" Gore. With his mantourage and jetsetter lifestyle he uses carbon emissions comparable to many thousands of people. He has mcmansions here and there and despite being a prophet of global doom, he hasn't personally curbed his lifestyle one iota. The sacrifice to save the planet is never meant to restrict the elite's lifestyle; it’s the poor and middle class that need to sacrifice for the "greater good".

With the supposed concern from the Left about the gap between the rich and the poor, it is ironic at best that they support policies that have no other effect than to push the middle class into the poor and to push the poor down further. In its most radical forms, environmentalists believe the Earth is over populated and that the population should be reduced to about 2 billion. You can bet real money that it won't be them that numbers in the 4 billion or so that are unworthy of life. China's forced-abortion policy solicits nary a peep from "human rights activists". The Serra Club supports abortion for a reason.

Carbon offset programs have been exposed as a fraud and it has just been discovered that hybrid vehicles cause much more environmental damage to produce than a hummer. In the rush to "do something", or at least appear to be doing something, no one every actually examined to see if they were doing something that would have an effect. This mindlessness pervades the entire gamut of environmental thought.

These elites, despite not usually having any real contact with the middle class or the poor, deign to know what is best for us and are more than willing to use government to enforce their values on us from on high. These Henryites demonstrate this arrogant paternalism in their support for bans on smoking (not just in public, but even in private homes), trans-fat bans and their incessant parade of lifestyle legislation designed solely to indicate that the right of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness applies only to those who have won life's lottery. Call it the secular humanism version of the Prosperity Gospel.

With all the Hollywood and political elites that support environmentalism, you'd think they'd restrict their lifestyle that uses many more resources then dozens if not hundreds of middle-class or poor families. When they close down their large estates and live solely in one 3,000 square foot home (generous for almost any family I know), then they might have some basis with which to tell the rest of us what we need to cut out of our lives.

Until the time comes that they will share in the sacrifices which they demand everyone else to make, no serious consideration can be given to their interpretation of what the common good is.

John Bambenek is the Assistant Politics Editor for BC Magazine and is an academic professional for the University of Illinois. By trade, he is an information security professional, part of the Internet Storm Center and a courseware author and certification grader for the GIAC family of security certifications. He is a syndicated columnist who blogs at Part-Time Pundit and the executive director of The Tumaini Foundation which helps AIDS orphans and other children in Tanzania to get an education. He is the current owner of BlogSoldiers, a blog-only traffic exchange.

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Comments

5 Responses to “The Environmentalists’ War on the Poor”

Chris on June 14th, 2007 10:28 pm

I’ve been reading a little from this site here and there, and while I believe a dependency on oil must be curbed, I think you hit the nail on the head, JCB. As for this Billy person, if he’d like to venture into a decent argument instead of shouting ignorant, expletive-filled remarks, he can be my guest; otherwise, he needs to keep his big mouth to those who actually appreciate such nonsense.
Fuzzlenutter on June 15th, 2007 6:32 am

And Billy, I bet you’d eat that corn in ManBearPigs sh*t…
Anthony on June 15th, 2007 7:34 am

I was intrigued by this article because it seemed to debunk some ideas that I held true, while making some good points. For instance, the fact that Gore has so many mansions is not in keeping with his environmentalist “reduce, reuse” stance. However, the author makes the mistake of linking to an article which he CLAIMS is about Hummers being more environmental than hybrids. Alas, he either did not read the article, or he is merely a sensationalist, using random articles to support the lie he writes. I suggest you guys read that article. It comes to the opposite conclusion.

Also, if you want to claim that the poorest people in Denver will lose their cars, fine. Just back it up with an explanation of exactly how the program works, and a reference to someone in charge of the program. After reading the spin you put on the Hummer v. hybrid article, the rest of your claims are cast into grave doubt.

Anthony
James F McEnanly on June 15th, 2007 7:47 am

Once again, the environmentalists live true to their motto ‘Quod licet Jovi, non licet bovi’,that which is permitted to the King of the gods is not permitted to cattle. Whether it is Bill Clinton’s advocating sod roofs on houses or Cheryl Crow’s advice on toilet paper,liberals seem to want to make life as much like a browned-out East Germany as possible for us, but a utopian dream for themselves.
Glib Fortuna on June 15th, 2007 4:38 pm

“has more intelligence”

Not sure after reading your comment BillyBob that you are much of an arbiter on the question of intelligence.