July 4th is more than just a date on the calendar; it’s a commemoration of the birth of our great nation, the United States of America. It’s the day we celebrate the tenacity, courage, and revolutionary spirit that drove our founding fathers to break free from tyranny and form a country based on the fundamental principles of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Today, however, there is an increasingly loud clamor to anchor this celebration not in the values of independence and freedom, but in the narratives of climate change and sustainability. This narrative posits that we are on the brink of a climate disaster, and only immediate, drastic action will save us. However, when we delve deeper, we find that these concerns may be less about safeguarding our environment and more about imposing policy preferences and controlling populations.
There are arguments for maintaining a balanced ecosystem, of course. We all want to breathe clean air, enjoy clear waters, and marvel at our stunning natural habitats. However, the alarmist narrative around climate change seems to ignore the strides humanity has made in managing and even reversing environmental damage, the progress made in clean and efficient energy, and the overall resilience of Mother Nature herself.
There is an obsession with apocalypse-like scenarios that posits an Earth that is doomed unless we implement stringent, often overreaching, policy measures that affect every aspect of our lives, from what we eat to how we commute. But the facts tell a different story.
Climate change, as a process, has been happening for millions of years, long before human intervention. While we do have a minor role to play in accelerating or decelerating this process, the assertion that a disaster is imminent seems to disregard the Earth’s extensive geological history and its proven resilience.
Technological advancements have also been key in addressing many of our environmental concerns. Meanwhile, efforts to clean our oceans, replenish our forests, and create more productive agricultural practices are also making significant headway. These strides have been possible due to the creative genius of free individuals, not because of draconian governmental interventions.
Sustainability has become a political buzzword, a shibboleth for a worldview that insists on controlling every aspect of human life under the guise of an environmental apocalypse. Yet, for all the noise and alarmism, there are numerous debates to be had around the precise trajectory of climate change, its impacts, and the need, if any, for responses.
In celebrating the 4th of July, let us not forget that the founding fathers fought for the freedom of choice, freedom of thought, and the ability to forge our own destiny. This includes how we choose to interact with and protect our environment.
Instead of succumbing to fear-mongering narratives, we should empower ourselves with knowledge and engage in fact-based discussions about the climate. More than ever, it is critical that we make balanced and informed decisions about the environment, guided by scientific evidence rather than politicized narratives.
This Independence Day, let’s take a moment to appreciate the progress we’ve made, the beautiful planet we live on, and the power we have to shape our future. After all, our nation was built on the ideals of freedom and independence, and it is these values that will guide us as we navigate the future, climate change and all.
Happy 4th of July!
Well said, Charles! And kudos to Anthony and WUWT as a platform for doing exactly what you have said here, “Instead of succumbing to fear-mongering narratives, we should empower ourselves with knowledge and engage in fact-based discussions about the climate.”
Thank you, Charles.
Most folks remember the phrase from the Declaration. “we hold these truths to be self-evident”, but the one that rings home the most to me, being a combat vet, is their closing remark and vow,
“And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.”
Where do we get such “men” these days that would put their signature on a document that was sure to get the attention of the King and his loyalists in the colonies.
I am proud that our “free” country has done as much as it has to be good stewards of the “good Earth”. We folks living here in the U.S. should all celebrate “Independence Day”, regardless of where born.
Gums sends…
“It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.” Leonardo da Vinci.
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The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to
be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.
H.L. Mencken
Different words, same meaning.
Is it perhaps optimistic to say that the more things change, the more they stay the same?
“There is nothing new except what has been forgotten.” Mlle Rose Bertin, 1785.
“There is nothing new under the sun, you just get a can of paint out.” Robert Plant.
The people pushing this climate stuff and the restrictions and all…do they think they will be spared? (the non-billionaires)
Yep. They think they will be spared and made the climate cults bureaucrats controlling all the rest of us deniers. With all the privileges and benefits granted them by the ruling elite.
They are truly “the stupid”, they have not studied history to see how it all turns out should they get their utopian fantasy world. Not well for the supporters of the cult at all.
“the stupid”. By analogy… Lenin called them “Useful Idiots”.
Let us remember this key grievance today, “He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.”
That has now happened here and we should start closing those offices, great and small all across the country! Let us restore this country to its Constitution and start by abolishing all of the unconstitutional nonsense that has grown like weeds.
First, let us remember what the Constitution is! It is a list of powers granted to the federal government to hopefully achieve the goals listed in the preamble. If a power is not explicitly granted, the federal government is not allowed to exercise it.
We can see clearly that the EPA is completely unconstitutional, the federal government was not granted the power to regulate industry, dictate what cars we can drive, what fixtures we can have in our bathrooms, and on and on. No, you cannot stretch the commerce clause to cover all that nonsense! If you could, then the federal government would be an unlimited tyranny, which is where we are now.
Then we need to work to abolish local tyrannies, with zoning boards a good first target. Here is our experience with a truly nightmarish one http://theviews.org/boulder-county.html.
“First, let us remember what the Constitution is! It is a list of powers granted to the federal government….”
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A lot of it is what the government can’t do. See the first ten amendments.
Happy 4th of July!
Ronald Reagan’s speech on 4 July 1986 still has important themes for us today.
There is a meme going around. There are people who are selfish and others who are caring. It is a fashionable stance, all the rage.
The leftist view: “Those who care take man’s role in a possible catastrophe as a scientific truth and those who deny this are the uncaring selfish.”
Less leftist view: Taking the meme as a given, let’s harness selfishness to our benefit. Let the selfish compete among themselves; they’ll make their products better and cheaper — win-win. Let those in search of Nobel Prizes compete out loud — win-win.
“Sustainability has become a political buzzword, a shibboleth for a worldview that insists on controlling every aspect of human life under the guise of an environmental apocalypse.”
Authoritarians are using the issue of CO2 to gain the control they seek over society.
CO2 is innocent of any charges, but that doesn’t stop authoritarians from trying to use the issue for their own selfish purposes. Unfortunately, the authoritarians have gained control of the mass media and this enables them to spread their lies and disinformation about CO2 far and wide. And again, unfortunately, many people are easily influenced by the mass media.
But, I’m starting to get the feeling that the tide is turning a little bit. The Climate Change Alarmists seem to be on the run. They act like they are because they are always blaming their problems on “deniers”.
Deniers wouldn’t matter if the Climate Alarmists could make a good case for themselves, but they can’t, so they complain when skeptics point this out, and want to shut the skeptics up. They are bullies. Bullies without the facts at hand. Frustrated bullies.
CO2 is a benign gas, essential for life on Earth. It’s not the Devil in Disguise, as the climate alarmists claim. Saying CO2 is the Devil, does not make it so, no matter how many times authoritarian climate alarmists say it.
I wish the tide were turning but it is not. Wash Post today screening headline about “hottest day ever.” We must stand up to the nonsense. There is no evidence whatsoever that CO2 is anything other than an essential life-giving gas in relatively short supply in our atmosphere. The emperor has no clothes!
“…to break free from tyranny and form a country based on the fundamental principles of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Tyranny? We are, admittedly, in something of a mess now, but tyranny? I think not.
On the other hand, look what has come to the UK from America. “Racism” anyone?
Sorry, but you asked for it.
Not a tyranny? I guess it depends on whose ox is being gored.
We are, admittedly, in something of a mess now, but tyranny? I think not.
Well, for one jolly example, face the tyranny of our governing elected individuals following the Covid arrival from Wuhan. All too many declared ’emergencies’, which enabled them to issue edicts as if they were Emperors – and they left those ’emergencies’ in place long after their legislative bodies had had time to create democratic measures suitable for their situations. And immense numbers of employees of small businesses lost their jobs, their livelihoods, due to the tyrannical shutdown of those businesses – whose owners largely lost their savings AND their livelihoods in the process.
Only later did we learn that those countries who didn’t employ such measures had no higher a rate of Covid deaths than did the ‘democratic’ USA.
I will grant you that the rhetoric of the American Revolution was overwrought on the subject of tyranny, Disputin. George III was by the measure of his times quite enlightened. The expectation that the cost of the defense of the American colonies should be at least in part paid by the colonists was not unreasonable. Furthermore it was our British cousins who tried to lead us away from enslaving others.
America was the hope of free Englishmen who enjoyed the inheritance of the Magna Carta. Formed in imperfection, our nation has striven to form an ever more perfect union.
Neither America nor Britain is the source of racism, and both have been stained by it, while also both have opposed it. In a world increasingly turning back to pagan barbarism, let’s seek to maintain the bonds of friendship and common heritage rather than to fall into petty disputes over harsh words.
Hear, hear.
Add wokeism to that?
“let us not forget that the founding fathers fought for the freedom of choice, freedom of thought, and the ability to forge our own destiny.”
Apparently it depends on who you are.
You judge past generations by the sensibilities of modern times and furthermore ignore the provocation perpetrated by the malicious British who used the Iroquois to massacre American civilians. War is always an ugly business and an offense against humanity.
Judicial advancement:
SCOTUS Rules Affirmative Action UNCONSTITUTIONAL in Harvard Admissions
Hear Hear!!
Pardon what some may view as pedantry, but I ask all to consider that freedom ≠ liberty, and that the differences, though subtle, are important. It was no accident that the word “freedom” appears nowhere in the Declaration of Independence, but the word “Liberty” does. Further, there was no “Freedom Tree,” nor “Sons of Freedom,” nor “Freedom Bell, nor “Give me freedom or give me death,” etc.
“Freedom” can be interpreted to include being free from having to take care of myself and being free from having to take responsibility for – and accept the consequences of – my actions (or inactions).
“Liberty” encompasses neither of these.
There’s a lot of “freedom” going around these days, when liberty is what we need more of.
Happy 4th to all.
I am sorry to disagree Nik, but the difference derives mostly from the root languages rather than a difference in meaning. Freedom comes from the Germanic root (Freiheit) while liberty comes from the Latin root (libertas). They are synonyms in a similar manner to kingly and regal.
To my knowledge, there is no separate word in German for liberty different from freedom, both are die Freiheit. Likewise la liberté is the French translation for both words.
If some people equate freedom with license, or a complete lack of constraints, I do not think that tarnishes the word. It is a good sentiment however to emphasize the obligation to exercise our freedom or liberty in such a way that recognizes our obligation to honor everyone else’s rights.
Sometimes it seems that the German Freiheit translates as Anything not expressly permitted is forbidden, while the French Liberté translates as Anything not expressly forbidden is permitted.
Curiously, Florida has the former in its statutes (2022 Florida Statute 775.02: Punishment of common-law offenses.—When there exists no such provision by statute, the court shall proceed to punish such offense by fine or imprisonment – see also 775.01), while California has the latter (California Penal Code Section 6: No act or omission [] is criminal or punishable, except as prescribed or authorized by this Code).
How interesting, therefore that at present, California and Florida are each operating on what appears to be the statutory basis of the other.
Very interesting. Thanks for the information. 🙂
You and niceguy seem to be on opposite sides of the argument, at least insofar as liberté is concerned. I think I’m on yet another page.
I think the divide is a cultural one and between a Continental all-powerful state concept shared by the Germans and the French, where all that is not granted by the state is forbidden, and an Anglo-Saxon concept of individual natural rights, where all is permitted unless explicitly forbidden.
Freedom is translated either liberté ou droit. The right to do or possess…
But then, there is the right to get, which is different, it’s a duty for someone else to provide the thing (right to healthcare).
That is a French mindset indeed. The idea that we are free to do what the state declares we have a right to do. (Which implies the possibility of the state choosing to grant us no rights whatsoever).
The truth is that we have natural rights which do not require the state to grant and which no state may legitimately infringe.
We have rights because we are free, it is not that we are free because of our rights. The idea of droit being a proper translation of freedom is antithetical to freedom.
Obama believes also in positive rights. The “right” to healthcare and a laundry list of what? Shall we call them freedoms? No, freedom is what government is not allowed to restrict, not what government deigns to grant.
In our town, holiday fines for drinking and using fireworks on the beach are tripled because we want to set an example for all our holiday visitors how liberty actually works.
Really?? 4th July is the day American’s celebrate the tenacity, courage, and revolutionary spirit that drove our founding fathers to break free from tyranny and form a country based on the fundamental principles of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? I think not. The colonies had more self government than the English in England. The phrase life liberty and pursuit of happiness is a copy from English writers of the 15th century. And what liberty for indigenous Indian’s slaves, women and even catholics?