Liberal Talk Radio

Good article in the Washington Monthly about the potential success of the Clear Skies Act. I must say, I’ve never found the opposition to this act as coherent as I might have thought.

You see, Bruno’s an ardent environmentalist. I proudly contribute to Greenpeace, I spend every moment I can in the outdoors, and, well, I’m a g-ddamn Eagle Scout.

Still, there’s this idea out there, called “cap and trade,” that I find really appealing. Unfortunately, most enviros hate it, but I’ve never had any one of them give me a good reason why. So I’m beginning to suspect that they dislike it ’cause it wasn’t their idea.

For those who don’t know, Cap and Trade basically means that each polluter gets a certain amount of credits per year. And there’s a cap, a limit to how much you can pollute. If you exceed the cap, you have to buy more credits from companies that are better at not polluting. So there’s an incentive to not pollute, because you’re literally giving money to your competition if you do.

There are tons of these ideas out there — simple, pragmatic solutions that cut across the ideological spectrum. But there’s little support out there, because there’s no pragmatists with deep pockets who are getting all riled up.

All ye radical centrists — unite!!