Climate change is an issue usually associated with the Left. However, it presents Republicans and conservatives an unparalleled opportunity to make inroads with Generation Z while reshaping the climate debate.
For years, many on the Right chose to surrender on the issue rather than fight back and champion conservative climate solutions. The failure of the surrender strategy draws a stark contrast with the recent policy proposals by Republican conservationists. House Republicans such as Rep. John Curtis of Utah and Rep. Bruce Westerman of Arkansas have been able to deliver action while broadening the GOP’s tent.
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There are many on the Right who see engaging on climate change as pointless since the Left has exaggerated and mischaracterized the issue to such a great extent. However, inaction and denial are the very things the Left wants to associate with Republicans and conservatives. If the fringe agenda on the Left remains unchallenged, the overwhelming majority of the public who want action on climate change will turn to liberals by default. The working class would then be pummeled by the Left’s counterproductive and regressive policies.
California, one of the most liberal states in the country, has been at the center of a debate about who bears the brunt of climate change regulations. Latino activists have excoriated the state’s approach, noting that the climate regulations come “at the expense of poor people.” Activists such as Robert Apodaca of United Latinos Vote have cited increased renewable energy mandates and higher motor fuel taxes as barriers to middle- and lower-class Latino homeownership. Despite young middle- and lower-class Latinos already facing the worst effects of climate change in California, they are also bearing the brunt of the state’s repressive policies.
Many young voters are also pessimistic about the prospects for serious action on the environment, but it doesn’t have to be this way. By productively engaging on the issue ranked as among the most important for many young voters, Republicans would make significant electoral and cultural inroads on a new bloc of voters.
The recent launch of the Conservative Climate Caucus and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s endorsement of several pieces of legislation are significant improvements on combating the Left on the issue of climate change. Although these actions within the GOP are markedly better than how the past 10 years of Republican climate discourse have been, further action is needed. A strong embrace of market-based environmentalism is essential for taking back this issue from the Left, but it is far from the only step.
Making the humanist, aspirational, and patriotic case for responsible climate policies is imperative to winning this issue and disarming socialists. However, the loudest voices on climate are often extremist ideologues on the Left. Those who occupy this fringe lane only value the environment as a means to infringe on individual rights.
By promoting natural solutions to climate change, conservatives can not only advance credible and effective policies in government but also promote a positive vision for an “America first” climate approach that respects individual property rights and decentralization.
In contrast, if liberals and socialists are seen as the only legitimate and authoritative political movement on one of the most important issues that faces voters, more is at stake than just the economy. While regressive taxation seems to be the most obvious and immediate threat by liberal policies such as the Green New Deal, much more is at stake. Woven into the faux climate science rhetoric on the Left are anti-human, collectivist, and culturally toxic insinuations. It is important to hold liberals accountable on the economics of their proposals, but we must also examine the long-term threat to American culture.
By masking vast centralizations of power in the government and anti-human rhetoric with concern over climate change, liberals have already put the fabric and culture of America at risk of being irreparably damaged. Convincing private citizens to surrender their independence through climate fearmongering is a credible threat by liberals. Conservatives must call out the true intentions of politicians who engage in these attempts and counter with their own proposals to mitigate the effects of climate change.
Patrick Burland is the chairman of the George Washington University College Republicans and was a summer intern with the American Conservation Coalition.
