The dangers of climate change/global warming mean democracy has to give way to authoritarianism:
In a new book, David Shearman and Joseph Wayne Smith take the appeal to experts somewhat further and argue that in order to deal with climate change we need to replace liberal democracy with an authoritarianism of scientific expertise.
That darn democracy stuff is just too messy for authoritarian experts to deal with. Too many people have to be persuaded to sign off on things. It’s easier to use the police powers of the state to get what you want.
Funny, though, how tedious and expensive bureaucratic obstacles are just the ticket if it’s for the right thing, like increasing the water supply in Falls Lake. Just check out a list of those in The News & Observer this morning (emphasis added):
* Excavating the lake would first require a million-dollar environmental study of the proposal’s impacts on wildlife, water quality and flows in the Neuse River. The study itself would require congressional authorization and could take several years.
* It’s not clear where the dirt should go, whether it would be an environmental hazard and who would pay for the work.
* The extra water capacity might not all go to Raleigh. Durham or other nearby towns could seek some. And thirsty downstream communities might push for increased releases into the Neuse, while vulnerable river towns might favor more flood-control storage in the lake.
City officials blithely say these are “realities complicating what seems like a common-sense idea,” without mentioning that these are largely self-imposed by environmentally obsessed public officials and were designed to do just that: make a common-sense solution impossible to achieve.
But that’s a good thing when you want to stall development. You can almost see the smiles on the faces of the elected officials and technocrats who list the obstacles facing them on this “complex” issue. While they blame a lack of power to deal with obstacles on the one hand, they use their powers to take away freedoms on the other to make it easier to achieve their aim: a docile community that doesn’t object when their property is taken, their taxes are used for social-engineering purposes, and policies are enacted that penalize producers and reward those who produce nothing.
