Op-Ed: To defend conservative principles, GOP should play offense on climate
Free-market approach:
Conservatives' plan on climate change better than big-government alternative
Check out this new op-ed in The Journal Gazette by Matt Stachler. He is a student at Purdue University, campus coordinator for his school’s Turning Point USA chapter, and the northwest vice chair for the Indiana Federation of College Republicans.
As he writes:
Today's progressives are more emboldened than ever to push their misguided worldview on young people. As a conservative college activist, I see and live this every day.
But there's one particular topic the left is exploiting to bait students to support their big-government agenda: climate change.
As Stachler continues:
Unfortunately, the left's vocal climate ambition, and the Republican Party's perceived lack thereof, is leading young people to embrace progressive ideology. This includes growing youth support for the Green New Deal, which is little more than a vehicle to remake – through destruction – the U.S. economy.
Nonetheless, I've seen my moderate-leaning friends make a hard left turn just because of the climate issue. This trend is a serious risk for the competitiveness of the conservative movement and the long-term health of the U.S. economy.
That’s why, to defend conservative principles, the GOP should play offense on climate:
To reverse this course, conservatives need to play offense and shatter the illusion that the left's ideas offer the best way forward. It's time for our leaders to advance a bold conservative solution that meets the challenge and showcases the full power of free-market principles.
Luckily, a plan forged by American businesses and Republican statesmen is already emerging as a winning strategy to accelerate the use of clean energy without the heavy hand of government. Authored by President Ronald Reagan's right-hand men, the market-based Baker-Shultz Carbon Dividends plan would roll back regulations, hold countries such as China, Russia and India accountable for their pollution, and put American manufacturers first.