Political And Ethical Decisions

Many years ago, I became interested in the phenomena now collectively referred to as "Climate Change". Back then, it was just strange weather. One year the earth was getting colder, the next it was getting hotter. Things were changing in a way science could not quite get a handle on. Ice was melting, however, and perma-frost was no longer "perma". Land once frozen and stable was slipping into the sea, and Inuit were being displaced. Hardly a matter for concern. Time went on. The pages from the calendar were ripped off and dumped into the wastebasket. Now it became a political item. As Hurricane Ike moves over Galveston and the nation's largest concentration of oil refining falls under its sway, I wonder how things which should have been done are not. It would have been an enormous undertaking to un-centralize the oil industry, but it was discussed after Katrina and Rita. But it would be rather costly. So we begin to reckon the cost of climate change. Shall we do anything now, or shall we pass it all along to our grandkids? They say what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger. Those grandkids of ours are going to be some mighty strong-backed people to bear the crap we are dumping on them. One of the most important characteristics of Political Issues is the fact that by becoming a political issue, we can make a political decision. Or, more properly, we make the Issue subject to a political decision, a decision our political process may or may not make. By making an Issue a political Issue and subject to a Political Decision, we effectively transfer the Issue from the realm of Ethical Issues and we longer are compelled to make an Ethical Decision. We may effectively gag an Issue by making it a Political Issue. Even though the Issue gains visibility, in our day this means we shall discuss it and argue it in the everyday world and on radio and cable TV until we are sick of it, and we shall even then do nothing until we are forced by events to respond. Thus, we no longer feel compelled to choose an ethical path. We no longer feel the need to make an ethical decision. As long as we can state that Science has not "proved" whatever it is that the issue deals with, we shall argue, not choose, not decide...not commit ourselves to doing anything. In summary, by transforming an issue which deals with human well being into a political issue, we remove the necessity for making an ethical or moral decision about the issue. If we do make the ethical decision after the issue has become political, we merely ensure the continued existence of the political issue by embittering the political discussion with the acidity of self-righteousness. If we make the ethical decision before the issue becomes political, and we assist in the passage of the issue into the political arena, we ensure a future of self-righteousness and compulsion by force, as we try to compel belief in those who do not believe. We need to re-visit the frame of mind when one could make moral decisions without first transforming the relevant issue into a political issue, for our time is a time when major decisions cannot be made short of the most dire circumstances.