The U.S. national security and intelligence apparatus has s…

Climate change and failure to plan did that, along with incompetence, ineptitude, and sheer greed.

Not only was what happened in Texas the failure of governance and malfeasance, it was a complete failure of imagination, vision, and insight.

While some folks want to call it a "black swan event," the fact is what happened in Texas was not. Not only was it anticipated, it was predicted. The people in charge were told what the problems were, how to fix them and why. They were told what to expect if they didn't.

Not only was it a cyclical occurrence (the third time in just over 30 years), both the periodicity and severity are increasing and intensifying. Therefore, the choices for inaction paved the way for the occurrence. It was inevitable.

In this regard, conservative ideology, philosophy and fiscal beliefs are their own worse enemy. That's because conservatism's most natural response is at best to do nothing, at worst to resist. Therefore, the disaster was a multi-layered, time induced, mountain of self-sabotage.

Conservatism, by definition, is the resistance to change and progress.

One of the biggest questions, and thus impediments to problem solving in this realm, is how does a governing philosophy that eschews change deal with cataclysmic issues predicated entirely on change?

This then goes to issues even deeper and more pernicious that the failure to do even minimal remediation for the past events or to plan for the prevention of future events. It goes right to the nature of conservatism, and the individuals sitting atop the conservative pyramid.

One of the problems faced by conservatives is even if they accept that the atmospheric temperature is changing, they fail to grasp or accept what that change means, or that climate change means much more.

From a layman's simplistic view it doesn't just mean glacial melting, increased seas levels, flooding more severe storms and more intense droughts, greater wind forces and bigger, more intense fires.

It means that even the weather cycles, patterns and extremes are shifted. When a tire is out of balance, it moves, wobbles and destabilizes the entire system which is the car in motion.

When the earth's weather systems are out of balance, we get to have periods when temperatures and weather events can be more severe in Dallas and Houston that in Anchorage Alaska.

When the spinning, lying, denying and blaming are all done, from where does the impetus for forward thinking and hard choices come that are required not only fix what was broken but anticipate the future to avoid repeating the same mistakes?

It's fascinating to hear people say that things that happen are acts of nature. They act as if man himself is not part of nature, and that what we do doesn't affect all of nature's systems. That separation and compartmentalization provides the insulation needed for denial.

Even for individuals who call them "acts of God" They apparently ignore what the scriptures themselves say in that God gave man "dominion..." Dominion is influence and control. So to pretend that man has no ability, role, or responsibility for climate change is simply hypocrisy.

Therefore, even from a theological standpoint, as stewards over the earth, we have an obligation to do something about climate change. Otherwise, it'd seem that even God would be disappointed in conservatism's complete abdication of responsibility with which they were charged.

But when we remove all of the stuff like ideology, philosophy, religion, and theology the real motive of conservatism is to protect sociological and societal standing based on white supremacy, and to guard their access to wealth, resources and profits.

That's why it's easier to vilify AOC than it is to hold Exxon-Mobil responsible.

That's why it's easier to convince coalminers and other workers that blacks, immigrants, or China are taking their jobs and to stoke grievance rather than admit much of the world his no longer buying coal or other American products.

Until conservatives have the necessary paradigm change to assess that governance, ideology and application of theological beliefs are exacerbating the situation, they will never be equipped to deal with it.

Like electronics intrusions can be avoided with constant surveillance, forethought and continuous work, climate change can - and must - be addressed. But if those who are in charge (whether in Texas or in Washington) are not equipped, they must be removed. Survival depends on it.

The U.S. national security and intelligence apparatus has said for years that climate change is the single greatest threat to the nation and world. While systems intrusion and hacking by foreign actors could potentially have replicated some of what happened in Texas, it didn't.

More from Government

You May Also Like