How much would you pay to solve an “existential crisis”?
Coming off the Memorial Day holiday weekend, no doubt many folks are pondering the fascinating (or not?) conversations they had with friends and relatives over the long (or short?) three days. With the COVID-19 pandemic (caused, of course, by the Chinese Communist Party (or Wuhan, if you prefer) virus) all but over, liberty-revering Americans were certainly disposed to go full bore on living life and intermingling with fellow humans again.
Here in Virginia, it felt about as close to “normal” as it’s been in over a year. Sure, a lot of people are still reflexively wearing masks indoors -- and outdoors too, in noticeable cases -- but one couldn’t help but sense the latent energy that’s been stored up for so long in the minds of the public is exposing itself with a vengeance. Restaurants are removing those stupid “For your safety, this table is closed for social distancing purposes” signs and patrons acted like nothing had ever happened over all those arduous lockdown months.
Were people really not scared all along?
President Joe Biden and his fellow Democrats -- which certainly includes faux virus guru Dr. Anthony Fauci -- will try their darndest to milk the “crisis” part of the health scare for all it’s worth for as long as possible. But this is/was one “existential” threat that’s gone by the wayside. The Trump administration’s “Operation Warp Speed” vaccines ensured the virus’s defeat. The fear it engendered will take a little longer to overcome, however.
Not to fret, liberals, there are plenty more “crises” left to worry and complain about! The problem being that a big swatch of the American public doesn’t agree with your paranoid delusion that there’s impending doom associated with any government failure to act immediately on some of them. Is it hot outside?
“President Biden wants to spend in excess of $1 trillion to combat climate change, but more than one-third of Americans are unwilling to chip in a single buck.
“A poll of 1,200 registered voters released [last week] by the Competitive Enterprise Institute found that 35% were unwilling to spend any of their own money to reduce the impact of climate change, with another 15% saying they would only go as high as $10 per month. Another 6% said they would be willing to spend between $11 and $20 per month. At the other end of the spectrum were those who said they would part with between $901 and $1,000 per month on climate — they numbered 1%.
“The results of the survey by CRC Research are consistent with previous polls showing that by and large, Americans are climate tightwads.”
The poll results didn’t immediately hit me as something especially noteworthy, but upon further consideration, these findings are striking, because they reflect the public’s attitude towards much of what’s going on in Congress these days. With fully half of the country only willing to personally spend either nothing or less than $120 per annum on staving off or slowing down “climate change”, it means there’s trifling support for senile Joe’s ginormous pork-packed carbon-centric infrastructure spending bill.
News flash: it will cost a lot more than that to build the electric car charging stations that people are silently signaling they don’t need nor want to spend money on. Not only that, but how much are the feds going to have to dole out to coax Americans to retrofit their houses to phase out fossil fuels burned for heating, cooking and water heating?
Richardson additionally reported, “The penny-pinching on global warming came even though 67% of respondents said they were very concerned or somewhat concerned about climate change.”
Here’s where the “existential” nature of the climate change threat is tied to the societal-wide freak out over COVID-19 last year. People knew in their hearts that the coronavirus had very little chance of impacting them personally -- unless they happened to be in the higher-risk demographic categories -- but ordinary citizens were compelled to express worry and concern about it anyway lest they be branded as insensitive and ill-informed by the ruling liberal elites and their minion army of Kens and Karens enforcing the mind-control panic.
So sure, if some survey taker asks you, “Are you concerned about climate change?” the credited response from most people -- two-thirds it turns out -- is, “Um, yeah, I hear about it on the news all the time… and it’s been really hot and dry lately. We’re frightened to tears over here.”
The common Joe or Josephine on the street or in your backyard for the weekend barbecue doesn’t know any more about “climate change” than they did about the true origin and danger from the CCP virus. All they have to go on is what the government authorities and the media tell them, and unless they bother to delve deeply into the subject, their opinions are/were most assuredly influenced by someone with a political agenda. Do you believe CNN’s or MSNBC’s or major network hosts would ever diverge with the establishment experts’ ruminations on the subject?
Heck no. They’re too busy repeating the standard “President Trump released a statement today, once again expressing the debunked notion that the election was stolen. Republicans are keeping up with their false claims that widespread voter fraud tipped the results in favor of Joe Biden.”
Some might label it groupthink, which spreads like a virus in social situations. Here's a sample of one possible conversation from a festive holiday backyard gathering:
Adult # 1 spots a college-aged boy standing by himself, cautiously sipping on a beer he is too young to legally drink and desperately hoping no one notices him. Attempting to make conversation with the lad, the man said, “Hey, aren’t you John’s boy? How is it going at school? Has it been as hot at (College town X) as it has been here lately?”
College Student Y, home on summer break: “Yeah, dude, it was really toasty the past few weeks of the semester. The college dorm was blasting the AC, though, so it wasn’t too bad when we studied for finals. But then some activist with a Black Lives Matter shirt and a Climate Justice pin started yelling at us about how we should feel guilty about expending so much energy, because the electricity probably came from a coal-fired power plant or something. Then, when she found out from a big-mouthed insurrectionist that I was driving the old family clunker sedan to go home, she started in on me about buying electric cars and saving the planet. She said people who use too much power are racists or something.”
Overhearing the conversation from across they yard, Adult #2 rushes over and juts in, “I’m so glad there are civic minded people at colleges these days. I saw on ‘The View’ that over half the faculty at Ivy League institutions feel there isn’t enough emphasis on social justice among the student populations today. Diversity… we’re stronger because of it… I totally agree. You know, China’s great to give us money for the Confucius Institutes. Did you learn about any other existential crises, like systemic racism? We’re just so happy that Trump lost. Weren’t you?”
College Student Y, glaring at the woman (Adult #2) and wishing he could just stand anonymously next to the keg, guzzle a couple quick brews and not talk to anyone, replied, “That’s cap, lady. There definitely were lots of students who were big Joe ‘n Kamala fans. There was this guy there who was passing out voter registration forms and telling people he could fill ‘em out for the students if they gave him their information. Then some other girl with a clipboard and laptop went around collecting filled-out ballots. She said she’d mail ‘em for us too. It was easy. Most everyone pounded drinks on Election Night when Trump was winning all those states. It felt great. The day after, not so much.” …
[The acceptable safe topic threshold crossed, the conversation trickled off and everyone suddenly felt clammy.]
“Uh, I see my parents are going inside. I gotta go.”
This fictional conversation never took place but it probably isn’t far off the mark in predicting what Americans might’ve talked about this past weekend. Politics isn’t the most welcome of subjects these days, but it has a way of seeping into the discussion, especially when triumphant liberals feel emboldened to interject their foundation-less “I’m-smarter-than-you” attitudes.
Not many people agree with Biden and his Democrat crew that “climate change” is an existential threat, and even fewer are willing to spend money to combat a problem that exists primarily in the minds of the ruling class. Here’s hoping everyone enjoyed the holiday and are ready to fight the upcoming political battles. It won’t be boring, that’s for sure.
Joe Biden
climate change
Black Lives Matter
existential crises
COVID-19
Donald Trump
American culture
voter fraud