ericgrimsrud

During the five-hour, two-part, Republican presidential debate last night there was only one mention of man-caused climate change – delivered near the very end of that marathon program when viewership was greatly diminished. The short, dismissive comments that followed that single question took less than three minutes before the debate moderator abruptly changed the topic to vaccines.

Only three of the fourteen candidates were asked to respond: Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.  All three argued that nothing should be done by the American government to combat the problem.  All three backed up their argument with the erroneous claim that government efforts would not do anything to solve the problem.

Why, I am asking myself today, did the moderator not at least ask each of the fourteen candidates to explain their views on this issue.  By asking only three to respond – two of which were already known to be hard core deniers of the problem – appeared to me to be a predetermined means of protecting the other candidates from potential embarrassment.  At the same time, each candidate was asked for his or her views on topics of far less importance, such as the legalization of marijuana, for example.  What’s going on here?  Isn’t the issue of climate change more important than any issue related to marijuana?

I have been consistently very disappointed with and critical of the Republican Party on this web site.  Gosh, I wonder why. Could it be because they don’t seem to give sufficient consideration to our future beyond tomorrow.  In view of what their Business-as-Usual preferences will be doing to subsequent generations, I wonder if they have no sense of shame, concern for others, or humility. If that is the case, it should come as no surprise that their front-runner is none other than the know-it-all bully-of-all-bullies, Donald Trump, who I have read is not concerned about climate change. Nevertheless, I would have preferred to have heard directly from Mr. Trump last night his latest views on this topic.

In any case, it appears that if the issue of man-caused global warming is to be appropriately recognized and addressed, those efforts will have to come from the Democratic Party.  Fortunately, that party does appear to have some grownups within it’s leadership whose interests and concerns include the welfare of our grandchildren and future generations.  I look forward to that debate and hope its moderators do not protect the Democratic candidates from the tough questions associated with this most challenging issue of our times.