Do Many Americans Inherently Hate the Government?

[eric]

[Southern Dad]

As you may know, I'm a conservative. I'm sure that didn't shock anyone. I believe that climate change is happening but I don't believe that my vehicle's emissions or car flatulence is solely to blame. And before you cry out that I'm speaking in talking points, look in the mirror. That is because you believe the points that many in your party state just as I believe the points that many people in my party state. That doesn't mean we are each just using talking points, we are saying what we believe and others happen to believe them, too.

Let's say for a minute that car exhaust was the cause of global warming… How do we fix it? Industry crippling taxes? Regulations? What is the plan? More so, if YOU believe that we, as humans are killing the planet, what actions are YOU taking now or willing to take to fix it? It's easy to demand that others give up something or pay something but what are YOU willing to do to help with the global warming? Do you have a plan?

[The Dharma Bum]

well, reducing co2 means reducing combustion in some manner. Basically enough carbon is being released into the atmosphere that it is changing some of the physical properties of the atmosphere. It's a lot more than just car exhaust involved in creating the phenomena

if it warms enough to melt a significant amount of permafrost it will add a lot of methane to the mix and this will likely create more warming

[Southern Dad]

For the sake of discussion, let’s say that we all agree that vehicle exhaust is a major contributor to Climate Change. How do we fix it? The government has tried to increase CAFE standards but people aren’t drawn to the smaller vehicles. The government has given large tax credits for those that buy either Electric Vehicles or Plug In Hybrid Vehicles. American consumers won’t buy them.

The Chevrolet Volt, a PHEV, which qualifies for the largest tax credit of $7,500 sold just 8,615 vehicles in 2014 (US sales). Down from 2013 when it sold 23,094. That’s a 62% decline in just one year. This was in spite of the fact that GM dropped the price of the vehicle by $5,000 for the 2014 model year. Chevrolet isn’t the only company to see this decline. Nissan which makes an EV, called the Leaf saw a decline from 22,610 vehicles in 2013 to 12,736 vehicles sold in the USA in 2014. This vehicle also qualifies for the $7,500 tax credit.

How do we get people to reduce their driving? Cheap gasoline prices sure aren’t the answer. Cutting the price on the vehicle isn't the answer. Maybe it’s time to look at an answer that has something for both sides of our political spectrum.



What if we added a federal tax to fuel sold for non-commercial use that brought the price up to $10 per gallon. It's simple, if the pump price is currently, $2 the price is $10 and the extra $8 goes to the federal government. We could then use the $8 to pay down our national debt. That gets the republicans happy. Higher gas prices would result in conservation. That gets the democrats and the green party happy. Does the plan have some downsides? Well, yes but think of the children. We cut our greenhouse gas emissions quickly.

Maybe it needs to be a sliding scale. $8 for those in metropolitan areas, $6 for suburban areas and $4 for rural areas. This sliding scale due to less other options for transportation being available. I know that when the gas prices were high, I rarely drove my gas guzzling SUV rather opting for the more economical hybrid. Right now, some states are trying to charge hybrid and alternative fuel vehicles more to register these vehicles which is counter productive in the scope of encouraging conservation.

[Philly]

[The dane]

I've always been fascinated by the way certain political beliefs tend to be grouped together. For example why would it be the case that people who oppose abortion are more likely to support trickle down economics ? Or why are people who favor marijuana legalization more likely to believe in global warming ? I can't think of any logical reason why these would be grouped together.

It seems to me that a large part of it must simply be partisanship. People usually have a couple of issues they are passionate about, which determines the party they vote for, and I think that for all the rest they just go along with their party. So you get religious conservatives who support the GOP because of abortion and gay marriage, and they end up not believing in global warming because that's the party position.

[Philly]

[Spider]

It has more to do with not believing in something simply because the other side does than because their side doesn't. Conservatives have come to not merely disagree with liberals, but to actually go to the extreme of believing them to be bad, immoral people. And thus, agreeing with them on much of anything becomes a very negative reflection on themselves. I think the denial of climate change is mostly reactionary. Just another librul conspiracy.

Climate change is a scientific issue. Being aware of it is simply rationalism. Choosing to not believe in it, as though its some mysterious arcane concept, is a matter of faith. You can tell because those who oppose it do it against the scientific consensus, and against any rational characterization. They'll see a snowstorm in their area and laugh about global warming. Thats the level they operate on. They could as easily choose not to believe that water runs downhill. Or whatever.

Bottom line is that reason isn't behind any of this. Applying logic won't get you anywhere.

[wormwood]

Inherently? No. Does an abused wife inherently hate her husband, or did something happen to make it so?

In all seriousness, I think some level of mistrust for authority is ingrained in our culture. We were founded by people who didn't trust the government and based around principles of keeping government power in check because of the obvious dangers of centralized power. On top of that government mouthpieces lie to us about EVERYTHING. From NSA spying, to Saddam's weapons of mass destruction, Assad's chemical weapons, who started the Waco fires, some whistle blower "committing suicide" by shooting himself twice in the back of the head, "No I will NOT sign the NDAA", etc. In the words of a very wise philosopher king, "There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again."

[Southern Dad]