So, here in Iowa, we have a unique
opportunity to meet and question the presidential candidates, both Democratic and
Republican. So what sort of questions should we be asking? Certainly it is best
to begin by introducing yourself (briefly) with something personal and of local
concern, and to try to connect (if you at all can) to the candidate, the
candidate’s values, and the candidate’s message.
Beyond that though, I
think the nature of the questions depend on the ideology of the candidate. For
people with a real committment to the issue (only Democrats so far), I think
the key thing is how they intend to approach the problem, practically and
politically. So my questions would be:
1.
Given the current poisonous political
environment is Washington DC, how do we do enough soon enough to make avert the
worst effects of climate change?
2.
Are you open to small-government, market-based
approaches such as the Citizen’s Climate Lobby’s Fee & Dividend (a tax on carbon emissions
that would be fully refunded to the public in the form of an individual tax cut)?
3.
How would you counter big-money corporate
interests that want action on climate change to fail?
And my lingering concerns
would be that a) we would do something but be satisfied with that, and fail to
do enough, or b) that we would do something administratively that a later
president would overturn, or c) that we would try to do something but fail
because Congress refuses to act.
Small government, market-based
approaches are of particular interest to me because they are the most
libertarian in principle, because they emphasize the positive (jobs,
innovation, and broad-based-action), and—once ingrained into the economy—are
more difficult to reverse (far more difficult than executive actions or EPA
rules).
For Republicans
sympathetic (but not fully committed) to the cause, try to lock-in the assumption that there is a
serious problem (or at least a high risk), then ask what they would do about it
from their own ideological perspective, e.g.
1.
Assuming we want to hedge our bets, in case the
science is right, what would be the conservative/libertarian approach to
dealing with climate change?
2.
Are you open to market-based approaches such as
the Citizen’s Climate Lobby’s Fee &
Dividend (a tax on carbon emissions that would be fully refunded to the public
in the form of an individual tax cut)?
Where the second
question (from my perspective) serves as a test of whether they are serious
enough to be specific.
For candidate’s more
hostile to the subject, denying that climate change is either real or man-made,
I suggest confronting them more directly. If they claim to be telling it like it is, then how can they be
so willing to deny the truth on climate change? Or put up NASA satellites to
collect data on the Earth’s climate? Or, if they are not a scientist (and
uncertain of the truth), then why they are unwilling to listen to people who
are scientists (and know what they claim not to know)? Would they be just as
unwilling to listen to the expert advice of military generals in a time of war?
Or to economists in a time of economic crisis?
The final word.
These are my questions, of course, and this is my approach to dealing with the
candidates. (So far I’ve talked to Rand Paul, Chris Christie, Lindsay Graham,
and Bernie Sanders). And I don’t suggest
(you not being me) that you do the same thing. But (IMHO) it is by overwhelming
the political process with our individual concerns and personal stories that we
have the most clout, and not by preaching from the same prayer book.
