Earth Day: Republicans Are Different Now (by Rick Perlstein at TomPaine.com)

Earth Day: Republicans Are Different Now



Richard Nixon rang in the New Year 1970 by signing the National Environmental Policy Act:

By my participation in these efforts I have become further convinced that the 1970s must be the years when America pays its debts to the past by reclaiming the purity of its air, its water, and our living environment. It is literally now or never.

The quote was put on cover of the latest paperback edition of Rachel Carson's 1962 perennial bestseller Silent Spring. Early in 1971 he quoted T.S. Eliot—"Clean the air! Clean the sky! Wash the wind!"—in proposing a further program "to end the plunder of America's natural heritage," and endorsed the first Earth Day celebration.

The public's environmental concern had tripled since 1965. Nixon himself, in his heart of hearts, thought the whole thing silly; "I think interest in this will recede," he wrote on a memo. But back then, the conservative takeover of the party was not yet complete, and Republicans were forced to listen to such public concerns. Even as, in an Oval Office meeting, Nixon reassured Henry Ford II and Lee Iacocca that he actually thought these environmentalists would rather "go back and live like a bunch of damned animals ... What they're interested in is destroying the system. They're enemies of the system."

Republican presidents, before their party's agenda was monopolized by shrieking bamboozlers, still had to straightforwardly honor the actual, obvious wishes of the general public. No longer. Happy Earthy Day.

The conservatives, by the way, have lost Lee Iacocca. He has a new book, and he's pissed.

Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car.

More Earth Day musings from Lee Iacocca, courtesy of Ezra Klein's blog:

And what's the most important new technology auto buyers don't know about yet?

Plug-in hybrids. They're being touted as the wave of the future, and I think they are. I can imagine a scene in the not too distant future when a wife will turn to her husband at bedtime and say, 'Honey, did you remember to turn off the lights, bring in the cat and plug in the car?'

How do you think the auto industry can and should face concerns about the environment and rising gas prices?

I have to confess that like many business people—especially in the car industry—I came late to enlightenment on global warming and the energy crisis. But now I'm making up for lost time. Automakers have to get aggressive about building hybrids. Why is General Motors building Hummers? That doesn't make sense. I'll go a step further: I think we should raise the gas tax and spend the money on developing alternatives to oil. Let's face it, finding more oil does not constitute an energy policy.

Happy Earth Day wishes from one of the greatest corporate leaders in American history. He understands now who actually are the enemies of the system.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/04/23/earth_day_republicans_are_different_now.php

Military Industrial Complex, yes...

But back then big oil was turning all their muscle outside the US, in places like Iran.

Not that he did it from the goodness of his heart, rather he thought it'd be good politically to sign the clean air/water bills.

For, alas, those Republicans who have changed don't hold power. Actual power is reserved exclusively for Raptards and Bushies.