Posted by
Marcus G. Daniels on
URL: http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/bigger-plans-bigger-little-mistakes-tp523782p523830.html
Robert Howard wrote:
>
> /MARCUS: ?I'm not so sure it really requires everyone's cooperation.?/
>
>
>
> My argument was:
>
> Case A: If it DOES require every USA citizen to cooperate, then it
> WILL require every other country to cooperate. It?s a ?global? issue!
>
> Case B: If it DOES NOT require every other country to cooperate, then
> it WILL NOT require every USA citizen to cooperate.
>
>
>
> (Case A) requires big USA government?s coercive power both foreign and
> domestic with threats of fines, wars, and sanctions.
>
> (Case B) requires neither. Only those USA citizens that cooperate are
> required.
>
>
>
The U.S. system of government doesn't require the consent and
cooperation of all citizens. Only a majority and sometimes not even
that -- Bush was elected even though he lost by more than half a million
votes -- or Bush's recent veto of the war bill and so on. It was
designed that way in part to make it possible for leaders to be agile in
situations like this.
In the immediate term, breaking static friction is a first step. One
way to do that is with state sponsored socialism, e.g. New Deal scale
funding to deploy partial remedies, like large ongoing tax breaks for
buyers of PHEV hybrids, cellulosic ethanol & electric cars, and however
many billions of taxpayer dollars it takes to bring alternative
technologies for low CO2, non-fossil fuel to market. (Then come things
like city-sized CO2 scrubbing/sequestration systems, massive solar
deployments, new fission reactors, etc.)
Those that can't be convinced that catastrophes like Katrina may be
increasing due to CO2, or that major coastal cities could suffer
billions in damage due to climate change, can at least be motivated to
rationalize the costs as a national security benefit. The U.S. could
forget about expensive coercion of middle east governments for the sake
of the oil reserves. Compared to the things the Bush administration has
gotten away with, this ought to be an easy sell.