Senator-elect Marco Rubio gave a fascinating speech Tuesday night in Florida. It's been widely broadcast, major portions even on All Things Considered, but hasn't been available in print on the Web (not that I have found, anyhow).
So here, as a public service, let me present the two-edged sword of Republican idealism and denial.
Americans believe with all their hearts, the vast majority of them, and the vast majority of Floridians, that the United States of America is simply the single greatest nation in all of human history. A place without equal in the history of all mankind. But we also know that something doesn’t seem right. Our nation is headed in the wrong direction and both parties are to blame.
Yes! Leaving aside the reflexive jingoism, it's easy to agree with Rubio. It's just that global warming is "the wrong direction" to go, and the solid block of Republican denial in the Senate on the issue likely to our make our lives on that road worse. Or, perhaps more accurately, the lives of our children and grandchildren, since the effects of global warming are just beginning to be felt in this country.
Which, interestingly is a subject — the future — much on Rubio's mind.
What America is looking for are people who will go to Washington, D.C., to stand up and confront the great challenges of our time. To say, as those who came before us did, that we will not leave our problems for our children unresolved. We will not allow them to inherit our debt and our mistakes. But rather, we will do whatever must be done to ensure that for them, life will be better than for us. That for them, our country will be better than the one we inherited.
It's easy to agree with him rhetorically.
It's just that here on the ground, a future of droughts, heat waves, migrations, and rising seas is not a going to be better for our children and grandchildren.
Where is the "greatness" in that, Mr. Rubio?
[chart below from a review of the science on drought by National Center for Atmospheric Research, called "Drought under Global Warming." Click to enlarge.]
Kit Stolz 
I called our midterm mania a ‘moodocracy’ the other day. But I like Nietzsche’s comment, “The easiest was to lead people by the nose is through their morality.”
Kevin Randall in FastCompany points to the common and excessive use of neuromarketing. It ain’t pulpits and stumping and slogans and dreams. It’s muscle, skin, and pupil response that’s developing these campaigns. Ugh.
Stuart Staniford has several enlightening posts, first one here, providing background to the Palmer Drought Severity Index.
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Is that moodocracy a reference to cows, or to mood? I like the idea that it’s a reference to mood. So much of our politics today is emotional, I think. About what makes us feel safe.
Thanks for the links, Brian. Will follow up — they look fascinating. Especially the discussion of the PDSI.
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