Plan to combat global warming? Pie in the sky A cap-and-trade system to reduce carbon is too expensive, won't work and potentially rife with corruptio

Plan to combat global warming? Pie in the sky
A cap-and-trade system to reduce carbon is too expensive, won't work and potentially rife with corruption.
Jonah Goldberg
jgoldberg@latimescolumnists.com
June 9, 2009



»Whenever you hear a politician start a sentence with, "If we can put a man on the moon ... ," grab your wallet.

For years, Democrats, enthralled by the cargo cult of the Kennedy presidency, have used the moon landing as proof that no big government ambition is beyond our reach.

The latest example of anthropogenic-lunar empowerment is global warming. Al Gore and Barack Obama routinely cite the Apollo program as proof that we can make good on the president's messianic campaign pledge to stem the rising ocean tides and hasten the healing of the planet.

The problem with the "if we can put a man on the moon, we can certainly spend trillions on this or that" formulation is that it sees political and scientific accomplishments as interchangeable. The moon landing was a daunting but nonetheless discrete challenge. Throw in enough brainiacs and blank checks -- and heroes willing to risk their lives -- and it was almost foreordained that someone would make that small step for man and that giant leap for mankind.

To read the full article: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-goldberg9-2009jun09,0,1940877.column