On Wednesday, Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall called those who want to mitigate the already catastrophic effects of our global environmental crisis ‘climate demagogues.’
“If Biden thinks he can send his climate demagogues to Kansas & tell us which cars we can drive, he’s in for a rude awakening,” he tweeted. “The Preserving Choice in Vehicles Act will protect consumer choice & free market competition that drives down costs.”
We were going to point out that he only needs to consult Kansas farmers to learn how serious climate change is, right here and right now.
But on Friday, Marshall inadvertently made that point himself, and then said Washington should come to the rescue.
“The 1200-year drought across the west has hit wheat farmers in Kansas especially hard,” he tweeted, in support of his bill, introduced with Democratic Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, to strengthen crop insurance. “The historic drought has the forecast for wheat yields looking very bleak. While this bill can’t make it rain, it does provide flexibility to wheat farmers who need all the help they can.”
Hey Senator, do you seriously not see the connection here? Also, you are wrong about the Preserving Choice in Vehicles Act.
It wouldn’t keep “Biden’s climate demagogues” from crossing state lines. Instead, it tells the Environmental Protection Agency that it can’t allow California to impose strict clean air standards to push the state’s conversion to electric vehicles.
In other words, you’re all for federal intervention in the form of telling California what it can and cannot do, because you don’t agree with that state’s eagerness to respond to our worsening climate.
You also seek federal intervention in the form of aid to Kansas farmers, even as you call those who see what’s happening to our world demagogues.
This obtuse incomprehension is especially confounding because you know who’s going to benefit from all those new electric vehicles California wants? Workers at the new Panasonic battery plant in De Soto, Kansas, of course. And by extension, the state’s economy as a whole.
California’s a vast market, and its policy choices do have ripple effects on our consumer choices here.
But as usual, Marshall isn’t arguing against California’s policy choices on the merits, or even truthfully.
When he says he’s for keeping Biden’s climate demagogues out of Kansas, what he really means is that the federal government should tell California what to do. That’s different. And it’s the definition of demagoguery.
This editorial first appeared in the Kansas City Star on Tuesday. It should be considered another point of view and not necessarily the opinion or editorial policy of The Dominion Post.
