Viro Disinfecting Series Planned

I never worry about the likes of an Al Gore. He's such an obvious hypocrite that, despite his access to considerable funds and publicity, his influence will always be limited. It's the thousands of unknown viro policy wonks, little organisms burrowing quietly under the skin of the body politic, that keep me up nights.

Recent case in point: the authors of the Transition to Green. Nearly 400 pages, this tome is chock full of reasonable-sounding methods for committing economic and cultural suicide in the name of saving the planet.

There are so many howlers, contradictions, and downright absurd recommendations for the incoming administration it will take weeks to expose even a small subset. So, I've picked out 20 or so to mock mercilessly in future posts.

It might seem a counter-productive way to combat this type of disease. Some would call for a more sober approach in order to be taken more seriously by those "in the middle." There will be plenty of that provided. But when confronted with evil of this magnitude, especially when it's presented bearing such a reasonable tone, harsh laughter is decidedly called for.

It isn't just this multi-pronged document stirring up trouble, after all. Much of what's inside is the now-usual Green boilerplate calling for caps on GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions, alternative energy sources, protecting planetary ice, blah, blah, blah.

The real danger, represented so clearly by these recommendations, is that Greens are taken seriously at all. Suggestions for the most radical overthrow of once taken-for-granted individual liberties is now completely mainstream. That's the fundamental problem.

To be sure, Obama and crew will chiefly nod agreement and then ignore most of the recommendations on pragmatic grounds. Here, for example, are people who want to radically reduce fossil fuel use without a viable alternative. That is evidenced, for example, by their stated opposition to nuclear power. That the usual Green groups — EDF, NRDC, EarthJustice, etc., etc. — signatory here are not regarded as the communists were in the 1950s is the clearest sign of more cultural trouble ahead. To fail to reject their views in principle and across the board is a sign of serious social decay.

But rather than cower in the corner because these germs are everywhere today — represented by everything from 'green' banking ads to exhortations for green copy machine practices — the best method is to expose their views, one at a time. Reason is one superb disinfectant. I'll be applying it liberally, so to speak, over the next few months.