Climate change advocacy groups seem to be in denial of reality.

The “cap and trade” bill  was designed to raise the cost those forms of energy on which America depends:  coal and oil.  That was the point of the legislation:  to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by raising the cost of traditional fuels so high that the economy was effectively forced to use less energy.

Now here are some questions:  Will energy price increases be good or bad for economic growth?  When gas reached $4  per gallon, did that help or hurt the economy?  If utility bills went up by, say 25%, would that make you more or less likely to increase your purchases as a consumer?  If a business believes that it will have to buy much higher energy prices in the future, will that make the business more or less likely to hire additional employees now?  And if the same business has to pay such higher prices in the United States, but not in China, will that make the business more or less likely to move off shore or to lose customers to businesses that do move off shore?

The last two years have reminded the American people of an important truth.  We all depend on national prosperity to achieve our personal and political goals.  Whatever your place on the political spectrum, you need jobs and economic growth to get what you want:  opportunity, security, help for the poor – and environmental protection. Poor countries do not have strong environmental laws.  And prosperity depends, among other things, on access to affordable energy.

“Cap and trade” – like the health care bill, the high taxes, the huge deficit spending, the threatened card check legislation – is bad for the economy.  The voting public realizes that common sense truth, and that is what has stopped the “cap and trade” bill.  The groups quoted in this article are not fighting the oil companies, but a huge majority of the American people.  That is why they are losing, and why so many of their supporters will lose their seats this fall.

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