Raging at a Government's Betrayal
Trump's Bill Robs the Poor While Betraying Human Civilization (Vol. 5; Issue 27)
Betrayal goes hand in hand with many unbearable feelings — loss, rage, grief — to name just a few. Regardless of how they cope, those who’ve been betrayed suffer lifelong scars. Some may never recover from a spouse who strays or a friend who turns on them. At the most extreme, the painful emotions of betrayal can lead to suicide or homicide.
Our governments can also betray us. Tasked with providing structure, order, and services for citizens, governments often fail their people. For example, after massive protests erupted in Iran in reaction to the September 2022 death of Mahsa Amini (she died in custody after her arrest for not “properly” wearing the hijab), the Iranian government brutally suppressed the movement, killing more than 1,500 citizens. Thousands of Iranians had chanted, Woman, Life, Freedom, in peaceful protests throughout the country. And although “order” and “services” should include the right to peacefully protest, the Iranian government offers no such protections.
The legislation Trump gleefully celebrated on July 4th represents a much greater governmental betrayal. Of the many reasons for Americans to loathe Trump’s bill, its abject denial of climate change is the most egregious. It betrays American citizens and, by implication, all inhabitants of our host planet.
The bill dismantles the biggest actions the federal government has ever taken to fight climate change—even as cadres of scientists warn of the acute dangers from it. Most individuals throughout the world understand, if not already experience, global warming. The 2023 report of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (IPCC, 2023), a synthesis of 14,000 peer-reviewed research studies, presents these worst-case scenarios likely by 2100: The climate will warm by 8.5° C, destroying 99 percent of the world’s coral reefs, melting 80 percent of Alpine glaciers, and raising sea levels by three feet. By 2030, runaway meteorological events like heat waves, droughts, wildfires, hurricanes, and flooding will regularly occur. Global warming will create 200 million refugees by 2050. The report’s authors believe insufficient time remains to prevent the death of half of humanity. Many will die of malnutrition, heatstroke, or dehydration; crop failures, mass migrations, and military conflicts will kill others (Stocker et al, 2023).
In a treacherous move enriching petrochemical executives while harming humanity, Trump’s bill unabashedly boosts fossil fuel production by:
1. Increasing access to federal lands by opening up vast areas for gas, and coal development, including the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve.
2. Reducing environmental regulations that previously restricted fossil fuel extraction by nullifying environmental review processes required by the National Environmental Policy Act and Endangered Species Act.
3. Providing tax breaks for coal, oil, and gas producers.
4. Expediting the permitting process for petrochemical projects, cutting review times down from years to weeks.
5. Ending tax credits and incentives for renewable energy sources like wind and solar power, which, in turn, cause increased reliance on fossil fuels.
These five actions—just a few of the legislation’s regressive moves—openly abuse our host planet. Meanwhile, our apparent archenemy, China, makes progress in above-ground energy projects. In 2023, China installed as much solar capacity as the rest of the world combined. It doubled that level in 2024. By 2026, solar and wind energy will become China's leading sources of energy.
The Trump bill’s other provisions will cause plenty of pain. Many of the poor will lose food and health security. The legislation’s tax policies transfer wealth from the poor to the rich at unprecedented levels while increasing military spending by $150 billion and expanding the department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Furthermore, it shakes the foundations of the US government’s creditworthiness by adding an additional $4 trillion in debt.
Hardly spokespersons for progressivism, the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal fears the bill will break the American financial system. Bill Gross, founder of PIMCO, told the WSJ:
The government acts like a teenager with a credit card without a maximum spending limit. ‘Payment due’ comes not with default but with a weak dollar and higher interest rates.
Our adolescent government’s actions, from diminishing food and health security for poor people to increasing the wealth of rich ones, pale in comparison to the willful poisoning of our already-damaged environment. As I complete this essay, headlines announce the typical effects of extreme weather events related to climate change: Texan children swept to their deaths by floods, record heat waves killing the vulnerable in the Eastern United States, and radioactive dust from rare earth mines poisoning drinking water in China.
For all the damage they cause, betrayals can also motivate. Imagine those poor people losing food and health security—shameless behavior by any government. Of the major industrialized nations, only the United States fails to supply these basic needs for its citizens. What conscientious government, of or by or for the people, behaves this way?
Hopefully, as people increasingly experience, as they literally emotionally feel, the effects of the reckless ravaging of our ecosystems, they will become motivated. Because of this barely-passed, Trump-celebrated legislation, global citizens will soon see damages impacting our children and grandchildren.
They will see wilderness areas diminish; they will see fewer wind farms installed; they will hear the sounds of constructed oil wells and refineries; they will hear of fewer homes installing solar systems. Perhaps, then, we will all be motivated, together, to elect a government devoted to the environment supporting its citizens instead of one comprised of the rich and powerful intent on pillaging it.
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References
Stocker, T.F., Qin, D., Plattner, G.K., Tignor, S.K, Allen, J., Boschung, A., Nauels Y., Xia, Y. Bex, V. and Midgley, P.M. (Eds.). (2023). IPCC Climate Change Report: The Physical Science Basis; A Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. New York: Cambridge University Press.