The thing is, in conservative circles, any problem that requires collective action, but does not involve killing bad guys, doesn’t actual exist, or can’t be solved anyway. They are quite correct, of course. Any problem that requires collective action, can’t be solved when collective action is ruled out on ideological grounds. When being able “to do whatever you damn well please on and with your own property” depletes or destroys a common resource “downstream”, like air and water, strictly libertarian ideology offers no solution. Of course they don’t approve of the idea of a “common resource” anyway. If there were no common resources, and everything belonged to some company, the company, they say, will protect those resources better than the public ever will. The fact that history is full of cases of just the opposite tale doesn’t matter at all. In fact, as an argument, it reminds me of the one John C. Calhoun made a couple centuries ago: “Capitalists abuse and then discard their workers, because they can always higher more,” said Calhoun, “but if acquiring new labor were much more expensive that taking good care of the labor you have, the capitalist would treat his labor better. So the solution to the miseries of the factory workers up north,” said Calhoun, was “chattel slavery. Slaves are rarely abused,” said Calhoun, “because they cost so much to replace.” (Not an exact quotation, but that was the jist of his argument.)
I once saw an illustration of Chesapeake Bay at the time the first European explorers appeared. All the varieties of native fish were drawn into the picture to show how bountiful the Bay was. In fact, it was claimed to be so heavily populated with fish, according to the caption, that in certain places boats sometimes found it hard to navigate..The fertilizer and other chemicals in runoff from agriculture kills the regular water ecologies but nourishes algae. Within the colonies of algae, sometimes vast in size, dwell bacteria and viruses that exchange genetic material at random at fates about a million times faster than in larger creatures. .Bilge water from ships all over the world brings microbes from far places to join in the miniature “orgy”. This includes, for instance, cholera from Bangladesh. And it is one of the reasons whales and seals die off in large numbers..And since the microbes come up against a variety of chemicals, some inevitably develop resistance to them. This is the aquatic equivalent of what is happening on land. But for many, the oceans are far away and mysterious, so the greater danger is not as apparent to them..The oceans, lakes, and streams are the real life-blood of life on Earth. Why do we continue to poison them and ourselves?
Part of the problem with the Chesapeake Bay’s health comes from the fact that anything that can be done to help its health must be approved (and agreed to) by the federal government and the governments of the states of Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware. And in each of those, you have powerful people saying that nothing needs to be done and no money or resources should be devoted to the project. So we kick the can and wait for the next generation to consider doing…..something.
And to get away from that particular region: can anyone guess why Louisiana, with its multiple swamps filled with opaque water, is the home of more chemical plants than any other state? (Hint: drop it in the water, and it disappears, never to harm anyone or anything.)
Doughfoot: Lena Horne’s grandfather. Actually, slaves were paid (but had to spend it at the prototype of the company store), so when they were worn out, they could buy their freedom and be discarded with no visible means of support. So much for “kindly ol’ massa”.
?? Where are all the death-worshipping “conservatives” that normally plague this site? Has the megacatastrophe become so obvious that even they are ashamed to be seen slavishly echoing the insane lies of their idols?
In the classic “bust out,” criminals obtain an interest in a business, through legitimate means or otherwise, and start selling everything down to the walls for the cash, arrange loans based on the established goodwill of the business (which they have no intention of paying back), and eventually burn the place down for the insurance before moving on to the next short-term cash cow, leaving the suckers behind to take the rap.
Oh, but we were talking about conservative/corporate stewardship of our country and its irreplaceable natural resources.
Night-Gaunt49: Correction, Calhoon was Lena Horne’s great grandfather. .Slaveholding practices varied greatly from region to region both by law and custom. Many prohibited slave literacy, yet Jefferson openly had a slave secretary. Similarly, Sam Houston’s valet (which he gained by marrying Margaret Lea and could not legally free) was fully literate in English (no record found on his talents in Houston’s Spanish and Cherokee), and ultimately became a school superintendent after Juneteenth.
Doughfoot over 9 years ago
The thing is, in conservative circles, any problem that requires collective action, but does not involve killing bad guys, doesn’t actual exist, or can’t be solved anyway. They are quite correct, of course. Any problem that requires collective action, can’t be solved when collective action is ruled out on ideological grounds. When being able “to do whatever you damn well please on and with your own property” depletes or destroys a common resource “downstream”, like air and water, strictly libertarian ideology offers no solution. Of course they don’t approve of the idea of a “common resource” anyway. If there were no common resources, and everything belonged to some company, the company, they say, will protect those resources better than the public ever will. The fact that history is full of cases of just the opposite tale doesn’t matter at all. In fact, as an argument, it reminds me of the one John C. Calhoun made a couple centuries ago: “Capitalists abuse and then discard their workers, because they can always higher more,” said Calhoun, “but if acquiring new labor were much more expensive that taking good care of the labor you have, the capitalist would treat his labor better. So the solution to the miseries of the factory workers up north,” said Calhoun, was “chattel slavery. Slaves are rarely abused,” said Calhoun, “because they cost so much to replace.” (Not an exact quotation, but that was the jist of his argument.)
emptc12 over 9 years ago
I once saw an illustration of Chesapeake Bay at the time the first European explorers appeared. All the varieties of native fish were drawn into the picture to show how bountiful the Bay was. In fact, it was claimed to be so heavily populated with fish, according to the caption, that in certain places boats sometimes found it hard to navigate..The fertilizer and other chemicals in runoff from agriculture kills the regular water ecologies but nourishes algae. Within the colonies of algae, sometimes vast in size, dwell bacteria and viruses that exchange genetic material at random at fates about a million times faster than in larger creatures. .Bilge water from ships all over the world brings microbes from far places to join in the miniature “orgy”. This includes, for instance, cholera from Bangladesh. And it is one of the reasons whales and seals die off in large numbers..And since the microbes come up against a variety of chemicals, some inevitably develop resistance to them. This is the aquatic equivalent of what is happening on land. But for many, the oceans are far away and mysterious, so the greater danger is not as apparent to them..The oceans, lakes, and streams are the real life-blood of life on Earth. Why do we continue to poison them and ourselves?
I Play One On TV over 9 years ago
Part of the problem with the Chesapeake Bay’s health comes from the fact that anything that can be done to help its health must be approved (and agreed to) by the federal government and the governments of the states of Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware. And in each of those, you have powerful people saying that nothing needs to be done and no money or resources should be devoted to the project. So we kick the can and wait for the next generation to consider doing…..something.
And to get away from that particular region: can anyone guess why Louisiana, with its multiple swamps filled with opaque water, is the home of more chemical plants than any other state? (Hint: drop it in the water, and it disappears, never to harm anyone or anything.)
hippogriff over 9 years ago
Doughfoot: Lena Horne’s grandfather. Actually, slaves were paid (but had to spend it at the prototype of the company store), so when they were worn out, they could buy their freedom and be discarded with no visible means of support. So much for “kindly ol’ massa”.
Cerabooge over 9 years ago
?? Where are all the death-worshipping “conservatives” that normally plague this site? Has the megacatastrophe become so obvious that even they are ashamed to be seen slavishly echoing the insane lies of their idols?
Kip W over 9 years ago
In the classic “bust out,” criminals obtain an interest in a business, through legitimate means or otherwise, and start selling everything down to the walls for the cash, arrange loans based on the established goodwill of the business (which they have no intention of paying back), and eventually burn the place down for the insurance before moving on to the next short-term cash cow, leaving the suckers behind to take the rap.
Oh, but we were talking about conservative/corporate stewardship of our country and its irreplaceable natural resources.
hippogriff over 9 years ago
Night-Gaunt49: Correction, Calhoon was Lena Horne’s great grandfather. .Slaveholding practices varied greatly from region to region both by law and custom. Many prohibited slave literacy, yet Jefferson openly had a slave secretary. Similarly, Sam Houston’s valet (which he gained by marrying Margaret Lea and could not legally free) was fully literate in English (no record found on his talents in Houston’s Spanish and Cherokee), and ultimately became a school superintendent after Juneteenth.