Old Mole

Revolutionary spirit, burrowing throughout history, pops its head up like an old mole. This metaphor, borrowed from the play Hamlet, was used by Marx in the Eighteenth Brumaire. I remain convinced that the contradiction of CO2 pollution will provide the occasion for the old mole to re-emmerge in the not-too-distant future. On the one hnd we have re-invigorated progressives hyping massive infrastructure spending as economic stimulus creating millions of good paying jobs. They would have us believe that the problem of economic growth can be solved by economic growth. Of course they don't use the words "carbon budget" as they promote this re-build because a budget suggests limits and capitalists ( the private investors the progressives hope to enlist) don't like talk of limits. Instead of a "chicken in every pot", these New Dealers are hoping to put an electric car (or two) in every garage. The conservative position was expressed by Rep. Rodney Davis of Illinois in an interview with PBS. Having backed away from climate denial, he now warns against "climate hysteria" and "doom and gloom" rhetoric. He says a sensible mixture of nuclear power and carbon capture and sequestration technology will solve our problems without a tyrannical nanny state eliminating all our American entrepreneurial spirit. He claimed America is leading the world in emission reductions and we will always need "baseload" fossil fuel energy. Not that Rep.Rod listens to Chomsky, but it is statements like this from Noam that he pooh poohs: "It's this generation that will decide whether human society continues in any organized form or whether we reach tipping points that are irreversible and we spin off into total catastrophe." I would argue the capitalist "democracy" that brought us Rep. Rod and Jeff Bezos is already total catastrophe but when the hurricanes start slamming the Gulf and the fires erupt out west, the mole will pop his head up in the form of insurance and real estate.