PG-

It’s especially ironic, given the Evangelical position of sola Scriptura. We should be the LAST people making claims such as this. . .

I understand the point being made, but I’d understand it better if I knew exactly what “cap and trade” is.

“cap and trade” means that the government specifies a nationwide “cap” on carbon emissions. Every emitter then has to have their emissions measured on some standard scale; they are allotted some share of the total emissions cap, called a “carbon credit.” Obviously, they will have to cut back on their fuel-burning productive activities in order to avoid using more “carbon credits” than they have and being assessed fines. This makes “carbon credits” a scarce resource, as the government under a “cap and trade” program certifies them as an exchangeable item. Emitters then buy, sell, and trade these “credits,” and a brokerage industry emerges, and the government assesses fees, and taxes proceeds, and….

It’s baloney of the first order to suggest that leaking money out of the economy at every turn in this way, generating still more levels of fake commodities in our already-ridiculous economy of legal fictions, is going to help *anybody* improve *anything*. Only if there were actually some incredibly significant, incredibly obvious danger (which for some reason no one at all except governments admitted) could this be justified–and even then, it wouldn’t make sense to commodify the emergency.

It amounts to a way to generate more government control of the economy and industrial/corporate governance, thus “organizing” the nation in a way that fits the canons of economic determinism (and both communism and capitalism in political theory are economic determinisms), using the “green” as cover. McCain is an incredible dupe to be falling for it.

And it’s got exactly nothing to do with Jesus.

Cheers,
PGE