Friday, April 6, 2007

Green Feelings

One of the issues that Green Conservatives have to deal with people in their own party looking down on them. As if they are not 100% on board with the GOP or they are really a RhINO (Republican In Name Only). This is quite incorrect.

In fact I think one of the problems with the republican party, (and the democrat party also) is that they become educated only by visceral reaction. "Well if a liberal is against Big Oil, I must be for it." "If environmentalists are tree huggers, and tree huggers are liberal and I am a conservative, then I am not a tree hugger, I am anti environment." This societal Venn Diagram way of thinking is harmful to the personal pursuit of your political foundation.

It's okay to be conservative and want to protect the environment. It's okay to want cleaner water and healthier air and higher gas mileage in cars and still support business in general and the economy as a whole.

I don't care that a CEO got a big bonus or lucrative pay deal, he or she negotiated a great pay plan. Good for them. The fallout from that plan lays on the share holders to fix, its none of your business or mine, if we have no stake in the company. However that doesn't change my belief that that business should be trying to work towards lowering its emissions that are harmful to the environment and pay huge fines when found non-compliant.

As a green conservative you are not expected to chain yourself to trees or sabotage logging equipment. Try picking up trash in places you go to around your house or neighborhood. I go to Tonto State park once or twice a week for working out usually pull out trash with me, cans and paper and such. Plant a tree. Support local grower's by shopping farmers markets. Its amazing how much cheaper and fresher the produce usually is.

Once again the defining difference between a liberal and conservative is that conservatives believe in you taking care of yourself and those around you through work and charity. Liberals will not recognize any charity unless its government funded and would rather cloak environmentalism in pagan mysticism and global corporate greed rather than open dialog regarding the preservation of our wilderness lands and habitats.

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