Big swing and a miss by DakotaWarCollege

Pat Powers is not a progressive. In that, he's apparently reaffirming his objection to progress with his latest scare-tactic post trying to convince us of the evils of the Obama administration's proposed cap-and-trade program.

In which he asserts:

Good gosh - are people thinking they’re getting a bargain by electing Congresswoman Herseth Sandlin? Because in this instance, it seems as if she’s doing little else but to slobber over the Democratic President at the expense of South Dakotans

Thank God we have John Thune to at least raise a voice of dissention that during tough economic times, South Dakotans really aren’t interested in our elected representatives in Washington raising our utility rates just because somebody is “committed to passing a bill.”

So my first qualm (apart from the fact that he misspelled dissension), is that Pat is heralding objection to the President. First and foremost, this smacks of hypocrisy when we champion a man's dissent against the administration who, just a few short years ago, said that dissent and "obstruction" of the President and his agenda would "embolden the enemy."

But secondly, cap-and-trade is a smart, solid plan on which to move our country away from a deadly, dangerous addiction of fossil fuels and is a brave step towards changing the way this country views energy and environmental policy. The ultimate goal of cap-and-trade is to reduce greenhouse emissions and ease us away from the dangerous precipice of the scientifically-proven, immanent climate change.

While Pat and other regressive conservatives will try to scare you into believing that your taxes will skyrocket and you'll be bankrupted if we dare to move forward, the good folks at the Center for American Progress assure us that:

"Initial estimates by the Congressional Budget Office project that an economy-wide cap-and-trade program would generate at least $50 billion per year, but could reach up to $300 billion. Approximately 10 percent of this revenue should be allocated to help offset costs to businesses and shareholders of affected industries. Of the remaining revenue, approximately half should be devoted to help offset any energy price increases for low- and middle-income Americans that may occur as a result of the transition to more efficient energy sources."

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office's research shows us that this transition to a more environmentally-friendly energy policy won't be as painful as Pat might lead you to believe. And Pat Powers? Let's just say that if this was the turn of the last century and Henry Ford was trying to sell you on this newfangled "automobile", Pat would be the one telling you that horses were the way to go. Progress isn't always easy. And I understand that it can be scary, but we ought not let fear of change dim the future of this country.

We need to take environmental policy seriously. We only have one planet. Once it's gone, it's gone.

I applaud Congresswoman Herseth Sandlin for her bold support of such a practical, progressive, and common sense policy.