Profits Over People: How Denial of Fact Has Eroded The Morality of the Right

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Profits Over People: How Denial of Fact Has Eroded The Morality of the Right
October 8, 2012
by James Schlarmann


We have abdicated all of our power in this grand experiment we call a government if our duly elected officials feel absolutely no compunction to tell us the truth. Of course all politicians will lie from time to time; it’s accepted as part of the game. However, there is a difference between an occasional bending of the truth or cherry-picking of details and just outright lying. The latter has been pinned to Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan more times than perhaps any potential ticket has. Ryan’s nomination acceptance speech alone was worthy of historical note for just how mendacious he was.

But as sinister as Romney/Ryan’s lying is, there’s something even more dangerous that is also happening simultaneously within the GOP. It too is centered around the notion of truth, or fact. And that’s an ability to ignore the very existence of truth, or at least one truth in particular. Climate change is perhaps the most glaring and egregious example of this behavior. At this point in time, there is evidence all around us that the Earth’s temperature is rising, and that mankind is most definitely responsible, at least for the rapidity at which it continues to happen. Yet, there is still a very large and very vocal segment of the Conservative movement and the Republican party that flat denies climate change and mocks the even the notion that we as a society owe it to the one planet we have to take care of it, to not plunder every single resource for profit to the point that it causes damage to our environment that we don’t know if we can fix or not.

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It’s issues like climate change that I think most crystallize the urgency of this election. Climate change is an issue that dovetails into industry, into economic concerns. What good is a healthy economy if we can’t go outside and enjoy it because our lungs will be seared by whatever foul chemicals have taken over our air supply? And even beyond that, why do Conservatives continue to openly mock the desire that many Americans now have to map our road to energy independence with a heavy emphasis on clean, renewable energy? The answer is simple: it’s a political football now. Climate change and green energy are now weapons of political war. and if there’s one thing Conservatives love, it’s a good war. Just ask drugs and terrorism.

As we start looking November 6th down the barrel, it’s becoming clear that Obama’s campaign has always been about linking the social issues and their importance to the economy. Yes, we all know that the economy is the primary issue of the day, as well it should be. But it’s not the issue, and it’s certainly not an issue that stands alone without any connective tissue binding it to a whole host of social issues. Are we okay with giving $2 trillion to Defense spending but slicing the rather paltry sum that we give to PBS to ensure that kids all over the country have access to commercial free educational programming? Are we okay with cutting taxes on the rich and paying for it by ending tax deductions that millions of Middle Class Americans depend on?

Everything is a social issue; that’s the point. Every policy decision we make is a reflection of who we are as a society. There’s about 45-49% of the country that thinks of a single mother working two jobs to make ends meet taking welfare as a moocher. Yet ask them if they’re okay with spending twice the amount on corporate welfare as we do on social welfare and they’re completely fine with it. The assertion of American values in that case is simple: profits before people. It’s a vile, revolting impression to give the rest of the world, and yet it’s an easy value to declare when you find yourself able to deny truths like climate change.