The other night “Coast to Coast” patriarch Art Bell took a break from conspiracy theories and paranormal analysis and decided to deal in a more naturally-occurring issue. The topic of the evening was what lessons should be derived from the BP oil spill. Bell apparently disturbed a right-wing caller by suggesting that Republicans were the principle obstructionists in the search for solutions to energy and environmental tribulations. The caller insisted on the typical right-wing “business knows best” shibboleth, and suggested a solution mirrored on the Brazil model of hybrid cars using plant-based fuels; the problem with this idea is that not only would it supply a very small amount of our energy needs, but it costs more to produce than what it yields, and bio-fuels are currently responsible for untold millions of acres of rain forest destruction. Bell knew very well that this was a shibboleth, and dismissed the caller’s views as politely as necessary. He proceeded to tell listeners that there are certain issues in which politics are an inevitable part of, and it is the misfortune of common sense and the survival of humanity that energy and the environment that this is the case. But some things needed to be said, even though he knew that half the people (and probably most of his listeners, mainly right-wing paranoids, since the show seems to air on an extreme-right radio stations like Seattle’s KVI), would disagree with him. The BP oil catastrophe highlighted the need to find alternative energy resources, and we needed to talk about concrete solutions now, while there was still time, before it was too late. Bell parried a cheap swipe at Obama by the right-wing caller and stated that in his opinion, the Republicans were the principle impediment to finding long-range solutions to the energy and environmental problems, and criticized Obama for not taking the opportunity afforded by the disaster to go in front of the American people and push for a bold new agenda to solve these problems. He had to tell it like it was; it was utter foolishness to bury one’s head in the sand, as Republicans and the right seemed insistent on doing.
I always took Bell for a conservative, but in his older age he seems to have reach a point where being wise is preferable to being an ideologue. Unfortunately, Republicans in Congress continue to be ossified mentally and morally, and for cynically partisan reasons. The latest example is finance reform. The Senate finance bill is little more than a framework to be filled in by regulators, yet even this is too much for obstructionist Republicans to a man and woman. Republicans oppose needed legislation because they can. That’s all. They are like children who if they can’t have the whole pie, they say they don’t want any of it because it is all icky. They seem to oppose any bill that has the “taint” of a Democratic stamp on it, no matter how necessary, because it isn’t their stamp. For Republicans, bi-partisanship is a sign of weakness; the only thing that has meaning for them is naked power. Republicans have shown that they might make a weak play at being a part of the process of reform, but even when their ideas have been incorporated—and much more likely to weaken legislation, like the health care reform bill—they suddenly back-off and deny everything. Hypocrites like already fossilized Sen. Scott Brown first said they would support the finance bill when it seemed certain it would pass, but after Sen. Robert Byrd passed away, the Republicans suddenly saw an “opening” to obstruct; it seems that three Republicans peeling off to vote for the bill would make it seem too “non-partisan”—and that wouldn’t help as a partisan campaign tool. In fact, every major legislative initiative by the Obama administration has been vehemently opposed for just that reason. Is the voting public well enough informed to understand that? Are you kidding? That’s like saying Fox News is “fair and balanced,” or CNN can be “trusted.”
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