#39
View attachment 444584
Early Fall, 1984
The first US presidential debate. Colorado governor Richard Lamm has the floor.
“...And so I actually applaud the president’s effort to reign in the petroleum sector, but I do question his methods and conclusions. I mean we’re talking about a tax that is targeted squarely at consumers, at the American people. Why should they bear the brunt of this?
“And if we’re going to be taxing gas, we should be doing it for the right reasons, focusing on the real problem. We should be trying to reduce consumption to avoid the catastrophic effects of global warming predicted by the scientific establishment. And there’s no reason the American people should have that on their shoulders, either. We need a tax on the real polluters out there, what the economists call a carbon tax, focused on the big corporate polluters. A measure that directly targets the heart of the problem and leaves the American people largely to get on with their lives.”
“Mr. President, a brief response.”
“I thank the Governor for his compliment, but he is conflating two very different policy goals. The purpose of the Emergency Gas Tax- and I want to stress that word,
emergency- is entirely economic in nature. We had roughly a decade in this country of unstable pricing and efforts by certain sectors to destabilize the economy by attacking its bloodstream, that is, petroleum. We needed to get that in hand and we’ve done so and I hope to ask Congress very soon to take up a reduction in the tax.
“Now, the effort to confront climate change is an important one, but the Governor’s proposal to do this with a tax is simply wrong-headed. We have other mechanisms that are far less disruptive to the business world than direct taxation. Not two months ago my administration released proposals for what they call ‘Pollution Markets,’ which if taken up by Congress will set limits on various types of pollution, including industrial carbon dioxide, and allow the market to manage itself in order to limit pollution going forward.
“It is a complex world out there. The old methods we have for dealing with national problems often times just don’t cut it anymore. A tax looks simple, but what the problem needs is thought and subtlety.”
“Senator Buckley, your brief response.”
“Did you know that shortly after the Curies discovered radium, scientists were lauding it as the new miracle cure? They convinced thousands of people to drink water laced with radium as a cure for everything from arthritis to upset stomach. Of course when people started suffering from radiation poisoning, all science could do was apologize and make excuses about how discovering the truth is an ongoing process.
“And there’s no reason to think we’re not dealing with that again here today. We’ve got a few scientists asking all of us to put our lives and livelihoods on the line for something that is not at all well understood. Why should we ask the American people to give up their birthright as Americans- that is, the pursuit of prosperity and happiness- when all the facts on so-called global warming aren’t even in yet?”
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Post-debate NBC News Special Election Coverage. Tom Brokaw, as usual, kicks things off.
“And that concludes the first of three presidential debates in this 1984 campaign season. A few surprises, a lot that was expected, and hopefully a clearer picture for the voters of the choice they have to make on November 6th. Roger, first impressions?”
“I think in the most important way they all did what they had to do: they emphasized their differences. They stuck to substantive policy differences and...
mostly avoided the kind of backbiting and bickering I think we were all afraid of, given how contentious the political situation is right now. It could have been a nasty night, but they mostly stuck to the issues.”
“Connie?”
“I agree, Tom. It’s an interesting tactical contest, and they’re all doing their best to keep it from becoming a strictly ideological one. The president emphasizing his firm hand on the tiller, the improving financial state of the country, the end of inflation, the return of growth, paying as we go, but also getting across a deep sense of the compassion and decency he tries to bring to government. Governor Lamm striking a much more populist tone perhaps even nativist at times, hitting at the wealthy as a protected class, calling the immigration system, quote, ‘a source of slave labor for corporations,’ and proposing New Deal level spending to improve health care and education. And even senator Buckley, hitting to the left of Lamm on immigration, while generally staying to the right on everything else, focusing on the quote/unquote law and order issues- his strong suit- and avoiding a lot of the more contentious aspects of the culture war.”
“Buckley and Lamm have also in recent days sounded very similar in their criticism of Anderson’s approach to foreign policy, though it did not come up tonight- the foreign policy debate will be next week. It’s interesting to see the Democrats generally tacking to the left while still finding common cause with the Conservatives in some areas.”
“And of course the president and Buckley hammered Lamm on free trade, and Anderson and Lamm ganged up on Buckley over civil rights and taxation.”
“Well I think Americans are traditionally mistrustful of orthodox ideology in our politics; we have a history of compromise and a system that really has compromise built into its most basic functionality. While some political scientists are predicting that we’re headed to a more ideological brand of politics in the future, I expect the American people will be led there kicking and screaming.”