Friday, June 28, 2013

Coal Country VA Republicans respond to President Obama’s new offensive against climate change

The Republican Party backlash to President Obama’s recently announced climate change plan didn’t take long among Virginia’s “coal country” Republicans as U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith (Salem), Del. Terry Kilgore (Scott County), and Virginia Sen. Bill Carrico (Grayson) admonished the president’s new vision for America’s energy future.


The admonishments came on Tuesday and none of the Republicans mentioned above mixed words about their views towards President Obama’s climate change strategies. U.S. Rep. Griffith said, "Declaring war on coal is declaring war on southwest Virginia and its economy and its jobs and its people because so much our economy is tied directly or indirectly to coal.” It appears Mr. Griffith is upset!

And not only did these Republicans aim their fire at President Obama, they also attempted to tie Democratic Party candidate for governor, Terry McAuliffe, to the president’s new strategy on energy policy. According to Sen. Carrico, a governorship with McAuliffe at the helm would work "hand-in-hand with an Obama administration that are just bypassing Congress to make their own rules on how this climate change will come about." Of course, there isn’t any evidence to back up Carrico’s claim but there IS plenty of evidence to support President Obama’s new strategy on energy policy. Go figure, the Republican Party is once again on the wrong side of an issue.

While Virginia’s coal country Republicans bemoan the potential losses in jobs and the alleged spikes in energy prices over the short term, it’s this type of small-minded, short-term, thinking that has brought America and the world to the edge of a global warming influenced set of catastrophes.

For those who may lose their jobs as a result of President Obama’s new energy initiatives, I am truly sorry, but it’s time to finally do what is right for the rest of the country and the world. Conservatives supposedly believe in individual initiative and the ability of each individual to find a decent job, if only they work hard enough. So take some initiative!

To my mind, Republicans like Carrico, Kilgore, and Griffith are arguing that it’s okay to slowly kill thousands of Americans every year because the source producing the killings employ many of their constituents. “It’s okay America, we should allow al-Qaeda to operate in the Middle East, they help bolster the U.S. defense industry as well as jobs in Virginia!” See, this line of reasoning just doesn’t work out.


In a perfect world, no one would have to lose out as a result of much needed policy directions. But we don’t live in a perfect world; there will always be winners and losers. But I have confidence that coal country Virginians (assuming they do in fact lose their jobs) will find gainful employment elsewhere because they ARE hard working individuals. I am also confident that one day Americans will look back on this conversation with amusement. “I can’t believe anyone ever argued for jobs that tremendously pollute our air!” As is so often the case in life, good results come from making the right decisions, and the right decisions aren’t always the easiest. 

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