Republican Environmentalist and Global Warming

Sometimes I think that politicians, on both sides, are so focused on being against the other side that the don't care about the specific issue.  For Republicans, the environment seems to be just such an issue.

Global Warming doesn't have to be the reason to care about the environment.  It seems to me there are...

 4 reasons that "traditional conservatives" should be environmentalists!

1.  Private Businesses "Socialize" Their Costs When They Pollute:  It is exactly the opposite of free market economics to allow private businesses to pass on future costs to others! That is exactly what pollution does.

2.  Private (not public) Dollars Can Be Used to Buy Development Rights and to Fund Parks:  A great example is the Land Trust for Tennessee.  (see link to the left)  This private organization helps protect against overdevelopment.  

3.  The Boy Scouts Are Pro-Environment:  How can you go against the Boy Scouts?  As an Eagle Scout, protecting the great outdoors is in my DNA.  If the Boy Scouts are for it, how can you be against it as a traditional conservative.  (If you are a neo-con, all bets are off... you have proven that you can believe anything.)

...The 4th is for Christians...

4.  The "Dominion Mandate":  In Genesis 2:15, God put Man in charge of the earth to "keep it and to tend it." The Hebrew words imply protecting it against enemies.

Don't let the argument about Global Warming keep you from being an environmentalist!  Even if it is bad science, protecting the environment for future generations is still good.  

Caring not Crazy

Here is where it gets hard.  There seems to be nothing between the "shut down the economy" Democrat crazies and the "those guys are crazy" Republicans.  There needs to be caring led by individual action and community responsibility.   There needs to be a little more Boy Scout in all of us.