General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsGary Johnson Wants to Ignore Climate Change Because the Sun Will Destroy the Earth One Day
Gary Johnson, the Libertarian candidate for president, takes what he calls the "long-term view" of climate change. "In billions of years," he said in 2011, "the sun is going to actually grow and encompass the Earth, right? So global warming is in our future."
The former New Mexico governor did acknowledge that humans are making the world warmer in the near term, toobut he doesn't think the government should do much about it. In the same speech, he denounced "cap-and-trade taxation," said we "should be building new coal-fired plants," and argued that the "trillions" of dollars it would cost to combat climate change would be better spent on other priorities.
All of that makes Johnson's popularity among younger voters pretty surprising. Surveys have consistently found that millennials care deeply about climate change. A November 2015 ABC News/Washington Post poll, for example, found that 76 percent of 18- to-29-year-olds see global warming as a serious problem, and 64 percent want the federal government to do more to combat it. Nevertheless, a recent Quinnipiac poll found that Johnson is now running second among 18- to-34-year-old voters, just 2 percentage points behind Hillary Clinton.
Johnson's 2011 comments weren't an aberration. Over the past few years, he has spoken out repeatedly against environmental regulation. In a 2011 NPR interview, he instead called for a "free-market approach" to reducing carbon emissions, arguing that consumer demand for cleaner energy, coupled with cheap natural gas, was causing a shift away from coal. He made the same argument during a Libertarian presidential candidate debate in May 2012. "If government gets involved" in fighting climate change, he said, "we are going to be spending trillions of dollars and have no effect whatsoever on the desired outcome."
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2016/09/gary-johnson-climate-change
kentuck
(111,106 posts)They really need to study this guy a little more, before they give him their vote, imo.
TomJulie
(98 posts)Same here kentuck. I know from experience just let it go and not try to change their minds as it's almost guaranteed to be a losing cause.
milestogo
(16,829 posts)this year are pretty bad.
Rex
(65,616 posts)Of course they never met a conglomerate or political wackadoodle they would not prostrate to.