Overwhelmed by the election, I find myself itching to get back to the issues (woefully absent in the debates and punditry).
One of those issues is around climate change, and more specifically, my optimism in young Republicans who tend to acknowledge that climate change is real, and who are interested in finding solutions. This cohort effect could turn tides on climate policy, as it did recently for gay marriage, and, in part, for women’s rights and civil rights in earlier eras.
A study commissioned by the Young Conservatives for Energy Reform reports that four out of five young Republicans polled think the climate is changing, and two-thirds blame human activity, in part or entirely. Moreover, as the Huffington Post reports, 73 percent have a favorable view of the clean-energy industry, and 59 percent have a positive view of the Environmental Protection Agency. And the Washington Post reports that young Republicans, compared to their older counterparts, are more willing to support action on climate change, including government regulation.
In the broader scheme of things, young Republicans are contributing to the political shift on climate policy by forcing the GOP to reconsider its tenor. Combined with the Pope’s encyclical calling for climate action, the Republican party is seeming more and more out of step with the public by dismissing climate change as a liberal hoax.
A recent poll published in Scientific American estimates that more than four out of five registered voters now support additional funding for energy sources like wind and solar and support giving tax rebates for the purchase of energy-efficient cars and solar panels. Three in four support the regulation of carbon dioxide. While those numbers are more heavily influenced by Democratic voters, young Republicans are helping to narrow those margins.
Interestingly enough, this hope in young Republicans is mirrored in today’s NYTimes column by long-time conservative, David Brooks. Perhaps not exactly the same reform agenda that I might espouse, he does note that: “Most young conservatives are comfortable with ethnic diversity and are weary of the Fox News media-politico complex.” Moreover, he believes in a return to intellection discussions on the role of government, not just its destruction, and thinks that young Republicans do, too.
So here’s to a brighter future for liberals and conservatives. If our younger generation can fight for solutions to climate change, government partisanship and some of the rest, there just may be room for optimism amidst the current political crisis.
[Relevant NYTimes article post-election]
