Wake Forest Professor Joins Attack on Libertarianism

Associate Professor of Philosophy Adrian Bardon here at Wake Forest wrote an article this week in our school newspaper attacking a recent article of mine concerning the politics of climate change.  I have to say, I'm fairly excited to engage him in debate.  

While I don't claim to completely understand climate change (and don't think anyone really does), the basic argument I put forth was that politicians and some researchers often use climate research for political or idealistic gain, and this reflects an age-old symbiotic relationship between rulers and intellectuals.  However, Bardon, from both his tone and rhetoric, seems to think that I am an absolute loon.  He writes:

I have been writing all semester about irrationality. My particular concern has to do with how our continued indulgence of religious belief facilitates a disregard for evidence pointing toward discomforting truths. As discomforting as it is, climate change and resource depletion need to be addressed now.Along comes the Old Gold & Black column from Feb. 25 (“Politicians often use climate research for political gain,” Elliot Engstrom), which offers the view that international bodies and the world’s “elite” are conspiring to manufacture a global environmental crisis so as to seize total power. With his references to Murray Rothbard, individual liberty and minimal government, I am presuming that the author is one of our vocal campus Libertarians. Radical libertarianism has many of the characteristics of a religion: it is internally incoherent, in that it is founded on a notion of absolute property rights that is indefensible according to its own moral principles, and its followers often exhibit the blind fervor of those in the grips of religious mania.

I'll be responding to Professor Bardon in two weeks when we come back from spring break.  Read the rest of his article here.  And please, after reading the article, feel free to leave Professor Bardon some comments.

Whole Foods CEO John Mackey Speaking Out Again

Whole Foods CEO, John Mackey, is speaking up again. He is one of many prominent libertarian-minded voices that has decided to enter the spotlight and open himself up for criticism. This time it's on the subject of government involvement in climate change and Mackey's disapproval of current proposals.  This comes despite his Whole Foods stores' notoriety of being proactive in the environmental movement. However, according to Mackey, the climate change hype is not supported by sound science. 

An article by an independent blogger was published on the Huffington Post yesterday admonishes Mackey's nerve to take issue with climate change science. He notes how he's often fought for Mackey in defense of Whole Foods, but after Mackey's lashing out against universal health care and now climate change, he's lost all patience. 

Read the article here.

I chose to engage with a few commenters at the Huffington Post. Read a few of my comments after the jump. Will others follow John Mackey's lead? I hope so. 

Lindsey Graham Bows To Climate Change

It's obvious Graham has no principles.

Conservative Republican (sarcasm) Lindsey Graham embraces the entire Climate Change hoax.  He has decided to join Senators John Kerry and Joe Lieberman to support a bill that would tax heat trapping pollution. Graham claims that he was fully convinced when he listend to the scientists talk about the causes and effects of greenhouse gases in his trip to the Arctic region with John MCcain and Hillary Clinton. He also seemed to show little concern over his highly critical Republican collegues.

You can find the jaw-dropping article and his tedious interview with the AP  here.

Is it just me or is it getting cold in here?

Barack Obama, that paragon of virtue. That saviour we elected to save us.  What has he done to answer the hopes of the American people? He has not only continued the Bush administration's influx of troops to the Middle East and proposed to fund abortion with taxpayers' money, now he is also pushing for climate change legislation which will further limit our freedoms:

U.S. President Barack Obama told world leaders at the final day of the Copenhagen climate change conference Friday it is time for 'the nations of the world to come together behind a common purpose.'

Global warming is far from proven, despite (false) claims of consensus within the academic community.  Anecdotal evidence about how unusually cold it is this year in my home state of Virginia aside, I find it hard to be worried about potential climate change while our economy collapses and our medical industry threatened with further socialism. Is this a blind? Is Obama trying to make himself the good guy after a largely failed year in office?

While our leaders quietly destroy America at home and abroad, they prey on our guilt. They use climate change proposals divert us from the main problems where our focus should be. We have more to worry about than green house gas emissions and the polar bears -- like our futures. When the economy bottoms out, no one is going to give a damn about seals. Let's ignore the distractions get our priorities straight.