by John Goodspeed

Created on: December 25, 2008

Requiring developers to measure the carbon footprint of proposed new developments is a one-way ticket to social authoritarianism. Those who pray at the alter of Mother Earth, such as those serving on urban planning commissions, would love for the masses to live in high rise urban settings. That is their utopian dream. Their vision of the future is one in which the ants (the unwashed masses) live within walking distance of shopping and jobs. Oh what a perfect world it would be.

Carbon footprint discussions put suburban and exurban developers on the defensive relative to urban core developers. The greens and planners are already working on Suburban Carbon Taxes'. The planners and the greens will insist that suburban developments purchase Carbon Offsets' in penance for their sins against Mother Earth. People of modest means who enjoy a yard and a garden and who have no desire to be packed like rats in dense urban settings will have to pay these Carbon Sin Taxes' by way of higher housing prices and property taxes.

The ultimate goal of the green movement is to dictate how others should live. The tyrannical green movement will snatch personal freedoms from the middle and lower classes worldwide all in the name of Mother Earth. Politicians will be complicit in this because they never really believed in, nor trusted, personal freedom to begin with. Politicians would rather grant gifts and rebates than to simply allow people to keep and spend their own money as they see fit.

Of course the greens and the urban planners have wanted high density living conditions for decades, unfortunately for them, the masses had no interest in their totalitarian perfect world dreams. What was needed was a cattle prod with which to herd the masses. Fear and greed are the best motivators. Personal greed (the desire for elbow room and peaceful neighbors) drove the suburban expansion. Massive inner city investments have done little to lure people downtown beyond an occasional dinner now and then. No, something bolder would be needed to repack the cities.

As if on cue, along came Global Warming. Our 200+ cable channel screaming multi-media world had found the perfect boogeyman. Now we could all be bombarded with endless pictures of forlorn polar bears and melting glaciers 24x7. It worked. The sainted Al Gore and his freedom hating followers have gone on to convince a nation of sheep that they must repent. They've even provided rosaries with which to pray recycling bins and CFL's and hybrids.

How sad that we are now prepared to set aside our hard fought personal freedoms in the name of Climate Change. Oh yes, it is no longer Global Warming we have to fear, that boogeyman was becoming too hard to find, let alone prove. But by now, the fear movement had too much momentum to turn back, so it expediently morphed into Climate Change. Climate Change is the new and improved all-purpose boogeyman, capable of explaining any dirty weather phenomenon anywhere on the Mother Earth's apron.

Remember, it is not the rich and the powerful that will suffer under the yoke of worshiping Mother Earth. They will still have their private jets and mansions in the countryside (see Al Gore, the Kennedys and the Clintons). No, it is the everyday folk who will see their standard of living greatly diminished from that of their massively energy consuming parents.
Abundant and cheap energy for all is what built the American dream. Don't let the greens, the planners and the scheming politicians take away your right to peaceful and economical suburban living. Take a nice long drive in the country this weekend, before it becomes a taxable offense.

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