OPINION:
The arc of history may slant in the direction of liberty, but the future could take a different tack. Independence, after all, doesn’t jibe with the global restructuring envisioned by deep thinkers at international organizations invested in the notion that human beings are taking liberties with Mother Nature. Even as the Biden administration embraces plans to place new financial burdens on “the land of the free,” Americans should refuse to surrender the birthright that has made America first among nations.
Attending the U.N.’s COP27 climate summit in Egypt last week, President Biden pledged in his chosen role as U.S. controller-in-chief “to work with our Congress to quadruple U.S. support to climate finance and provide $11 billion annually by 2024.” His Democratic Party’s loss of the House in the midterm elections, though, means Mr. Biden is unlikely to win congressional approval of funds for his global-warming giveaways.
When a door closes, another one opens, it is said, and John Kerry. the U.S. special envoy for climate, intends to jam open a portal to treasure that lawmakers can’t slam. The climate czar has proposed an “energy transition accelerator” — a scheme both cunning and crazy in which U.S. businesses would offset their carbon-dioxide emissions by purchasing “carbon credits” from developing nations. Those nations would then use the money to build a “green” economy, thus reducing their own carbon-dioxide emissions.
It’s a 21st-century version of the traditional religious practice of seeking forgiveness for sins through the offering of pecuniary indulgences. Given that human culpability for climate change has become a modern faith-based creed, it’s unsurprising that the promise of nature-based redemption opens checkbooks like never before.
Climate purists, though, stand unmoved by offerings of filthy lucre. Challenging the commitment of the U.N. climate conferees, some climbed a nearby Egyptian mountain, where they smashed their “Ten Commandments for Climate Repentance.” Like Moses of old, they rage over the hypocrisy of the “faithless” — in this case, environmental poseurs who fly private jets while wringing their hands over the evils of fossil fuels.
Poorer nations have few qualms about accepting alms from the guilt-ridden wealthy, but they may be reluctant to follow up on promises to dial down their own carbon emissions. In particular, Africans crave the benefits of conventional energy sources that developed nations like the U.S. enjoy, such as lower infant mortality, longer life expectancy and a cleaner environment.
Ready or not, rich and poor alike are being prodded into an unsettling transformation driven by climate fears. “What we have to confront is a deep systemic restructuring of our world,” World Economic Forum Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab told global leaders gathered Tuesday in Indonesia for a G-20 summit that Mr. Biden attended. “This will take some time, and the world will look differently after we have gone through this transition process,” he said.
On the contrary, the world requires neither “a deep systematic restructuring” nor a costly “energy transition accelerator.” Rather, it needs a fresh infusion of liberty, which allows creative individuals to step forward and fashion exceptional human habitats — like America. Freedom mustn’t be allowed to die in climate madness.
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